


Of alcohol, drunkenness, good decisions, mistakes, and Las Vegas

by CatChan



Series: Our best mistakes [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Accidental Marriage, Alcohol, Anal Sex, Arguments, Blow Jobs, Captain America: The Winter Soldier Spoilers, Drinking, Drunkenness, Fluff, Guess I Can Admit A Preslash..., Kinks, M/M, Mildly Dubious Consent, Mistakes, Party, Post-CA TWS, Post-Credit Scenes (stay in your seats until the end), Post-Iron Man 3, Rimming, Steve is not innocent, Steve is thoughtfull, Teasing, Trolling level: Steve Rogers, WinterFalcon preslash (if you squint), at least not once he grasps the idea, media, super methabolism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-05
Updated: 2014-08-16
Packaged: 2018-01-14 14:40:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 25,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1270216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatChan/pseuds/CatChan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone knows Captain America can't get drunk. That much is true, but the human body is something strange, and sometimes, drinking isn't needed to get in a more or less drunken state.</p><p>Now, Steve really wish that he hadn't discovered this fact in this very specific situation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Tale of a past

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, things you ought to know before reading this (if you didn't read the tags):  
>  **SPOILER Warning:** this takes place after both **IRON MAN 3** and **Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier**
> 
> **Trigger Warning** for **sex while drunk** and a brief graphic description of said sex. And a bit of **kink play involving movement restriction** (No, it is not a BDSM AU, just a casual game), and some forcefulness (in the game's context).
> 
> Other things... Not all Fluffy, Porn (but I hid some plot somewhere in it), I'd talk about the bad decisions, but it's in the tittle...
> 
> I am not from USA, and only checked whether gay marriage was legal in Vegas after writing... Turns up that no, you can't actually marry in one hour if you are a same sex couple, but the ban is in the course toward being removed, and really, I need this for the plot (if I can honestly call this a plot).
> 
> Oh, and I edited the notes just before posting the last chapter to ease the reading, so don't be surprised if the comments don't seem to have link to the story

Thinking back on it, that had happened before. When he was drinking with his commandos, and each beer they drank had loosened them a little more, he had found himself smiling easier, he became able to dream and hope, and he could feel that maybe the world could become a kinder place. It had never brought him all the way to full blown drunkenness, he had always been the one to stay more or less clear headed, even if he had just smiled at their wild antics instead of stopping them. He still had this thought, in a corner of his mind, telling him he was their captain, and that he had better keep his cool and stop the stupidest things from happening.

When they finally collapsed from their exhaustion and alcohol levels, he had been the one to carry them to bed. He had taken on the habit to tuck them in, and stay in their barracks instead of going to the tiny bedroom the captain grade secured him.  
He would sleep against the wall, in the lightest rest he could manage, letting his ears to pick up the faintest sounds of rustle or whimper, ready to wake up if one of his friends became restless. If their drunken bliss turned to awful nightmares, he would stay awake the whole night singing lullabies.

They probably knew. They knew he couldn't get drunk and that he definitely wasn't sleeping in an uncomfortable spot because he wasn't able to go back to his own bed. They never said anything. They would smile at him, or thank him for bringing the hungover ones water.  
The ones he had shaken out of a nightmare and held the hand of through the whole night while whispering little stories, light-hearted things of the everyday life in Brooklyn, wouldn't mention it at all, but they would often sneak a part of their breakfast in his plate. Then he would smile and eat the offerings, but not look at them.  
No one talked about his sleep guard, and no one thanked him for that, but they wouldn't crack jokes at it either, and every time they woke up more or less hungover and their gazes would search him and lock on him with a light in them was his recompense.


	2. Some things are just way too hard

“Stop that.”

Pepper stopped dead in her tracks and turned around to face Tony. “Stop what, exactly?” In another condition, Tony would have given her credit for her almost steady voice, but now, it only tore his heart apart.

“Stop ignoring this.” His voice didn't waver. He guess he could be proud of himself. Well, not that proud, considering how he had downed a whole bottle of Scotch before starting this conversation, just to have an excuse if he stumbled on his words.

Pepper dropped her purse on a chair and turned her undivided attention to him. Not so long ago, he would have felt proud, and not little smug at his ability to have her give so much time to him while she was always so damn busy... Now, he felt kind of guilty, kind of sad, and a good deal of self-disgust. “Would you be so kind as to explain what 'this' is? I still can't make out what you want me to stop, Tony.”

“I want you to... Urgh. Why is this so difficult?” Tony curled his head in, tugging his feet on the couch and resting his forehead on them. “I want... Why didn't you use this opportunity to tell me I shouldn't drink so much, Pep? Your witty comment isn't complete, and I am very well aware of it.”

“I didn't think my not chastising you would prove to be a bother.” Her attempt at sharp humor fell flat. If anything, her lack of critics and the distinct absence of barbs in her voice hurt him more.

“Pepper... Have you ever not told me when you thought I was doing anything stupid? I know very well that I mostly ignored your critics... But... You never, ever softened anything for me. Never.”

“It is...” Her face had paled a bit, she took a deep breath, opened her mouth, closed her eyes and left her lips shut again, turning her head slightly. When her eyes opened, she just stared at the corner of the room, somewhere beyond Tony, a little to the right.

“Pepper, don't get me wrong.” He placed his glass on the coffee table, and bent forward, bracing his elbows on his knees. “I have no problems with you telling your mind out to me. I may have ignored or snarked on you, but I always loved your bluntness, how you told me I was making things difficult, when I was stupid, or when you menaced me of resigning. I... I took it as a sign that I could trust you. If you told me such things to my face, if you dragged out the words that hurt me and could make me fire you... If you never sugar-coated anything, it meant you weren't a liar. You weren't buttering me up, and anything that fell from your mouth could be considered as truth without a second thought.”

Pepper slightly wavered on her heels, she grabbed the counter behind her to steady herself, but didn't turn her head or eyes back to the couch, or to Tony. “Thanks, I guess...”

“You know what I mean, don't you? You know... I am not stupid, even when I already drank too much. I saw your jaw clench when you came in and saw the bottle.” Tony tapped his nail against the empty glass bottle to mark his point. “I saw your disapproval, and I saw you squeeze your lips shut, turn your back and grab your coat instead of telling me I am a stupid idiot, and that you should just dump my drunken ass.”

Pepper took a breath in sharply, pulled the chair to her and dropped on it, utterly ignoring how she squashed, then pushed her purse off the chair and onto the floor.

Tony looked at her some more, straightened his pose, and hooked his eyes into hers, not letting them go. “You know you would have threatened to dump me. As well as I do... the fact you didn't can only mean one thing...”

“Can't I just be careful?”

Tony dropped his gaze. His breath hitched in his throat. It would be painful, like yanking off his own arm. It would be painful, but he had to do it. He had to save Pepper from him while he still could, he had to free her of him now, before they both started to destroy each-other in their attempts to ignore their problems. “No. It is not what you are doing, Pep. It is... You know, I am the one that is supposed to hide from my problems, and you pull me back to solve them. I... I. Yeah, no, I... Pepper. I am well aware we are crashing down. I am aware you should have dumped my ass last week, when I flipped you off and left you to cope with the company alone, and went drinking instead. I know you are trying to be more accepting, but it is not what you should do. The problem lies with me, Pepper.”

“Are you trying to dump me with a 'this is not you, it is me'?” Tony felt relieved to hear that sharp edge in her voice again.

“No. I know it is a dick move. Especially since it is really my fault. So I was thinking of ending it in a way as faulty as everything else and go for a 'you are no longer the one I fell for'. I was picturing a 'we can stay friends' or a 'this won't change our work relationship' to top it off in the more awful way available, and you will be able to really hate me for a couple of months...”

She gasped, brought her hands to her lips. She was trembling, and tears coursed down her cheeks. “Tony...”

“But! I don't think we should do that, we won't be able to become anything again if we do that. This is why I am thinking of saying the truth... Pepper. We are running full speed in a wall. I never really listened to you, but now you are not even talking to me anymore. Our romance is already dead. Our relationship is not completely rotten yet, though. I think it is better that we stop now, while we can still save something between us.  
I will not retract my support to you as my CEO, because StarkIndustries won't survive without you, and I will try to do my job correctly so I don't increase your workload. You can start searching for a PA for me anytime you want, I can't promise I won't be an asshole to them, but I will do my best to avoid sexually harassing them.”

Pepper let out a small sound that was way to weak or sad to be a giggle, or even a derisive snort.

Tony took a deep breath, and continued. It had to be said. They had to say it, or it wouldn't be finished. “Now that the hard part is out of the way... I know I am not doing this in the right order, but I think it is better that way. Pepper, you have to say your part. I know. I know already, but you have to say your part so the wound doesn't fester. It will hurt. I know it will. It will hurt the both of us, but we won't be able to go our ways if you don't do it.”

Pepper was really crying, now. She hugged herself, sniffled, sobbed, and then, like a spring, she bounced back up, dried her eyes, set her jaw, straightened her back, folded her hands neatly on her lap, and started talking. “You never really listened to me, you left me alone on the roof that night, you hid when you were about to die. You are reckless and dangerous to yourself, Tony. You tend to be self-sacrificing, and you generally ask more of me than I can give.”

Tony sucked in a breath. Each word hurt, but he deserved them. Besides, he knew she was also hurting from them. He stayed silent. It wasn't the end yet.

“You are way too impulsive, you don't give me enough attention, and your obsession with the suits was freaking me out. I know you blew them up for me, but... That one is my fault. I... I resent the fact that you left go of a piece of you for me. Even with all your flaws, I liked you, seeing you try to get rid of those... It hurts me. Even if I wish you could cut down on the alcohol, because that one flaw isn't endearing. At all. If you could, just, avoid drinking yourself dead every other day, as a parting gift, I would appreciate it greatly. I give you a week, though. You have a week of moping and drinking after this is finished, and after that, I want you to become reasonable. And I would like you to eat at appropriate times, too.”

Tony sniffed. He couldn't cry. He couldn't cry, he was the asshole dumping her after making her unhappy, it was not his right to cry.

Pepper looked at him in the eyes, grabbed the tissue box on the counter, yanked one out and threw the box at him. He had a bit of a hard time catching it, seeing how the alcohol disturbed his hand to eye connection, but he still managed it, somehow. After an hesitation, he helped himself to one too and pressed it against his eyes before blowing his nose, while Pepper did the same on her end. They took a pause from the nerve-wrecking moment, breathing in deeply, until their eyes locked again. Tony pinched his lips, and nodded, making a 'go on' gesture with his free hand.

“Where was I again... Huh. Requests. That is all, I think. I will start to search for a suitable PA. A man, I think I'll chose a man, better idea. No protests, you said you'd avoid sexual harassment, I am just trying to help you out”

Tony swallowed. He had made the right call. She was becoming the Pepper he knew again. Such a shame he couldn't call her his anymore.

“Huh. You said I had to say my part, so there is more, I think. I am happy that you took this surgery, and I am grateful for your curing me of Extremis, nothing will belittle that. And... This part is hard. I... I... You didn't catch me.”

Tony took a ragged breath. He had no excuse. None whatsoever, this, he was to blame for.

“I don't blame you! I don't want you to blame yourself either. But this is a fact, still. You put us in danger, even if Killian kidnapped me for me, and not because of you... You put me in danger and couldn't save me afterwards. It was not the first time either... Did I mention this wasn't a blame? Yes... Sorry. So, I don't think... I am too old for this, Tony, I don't want to be the hero's girlfriend that spend half it's time tied up to something either high-up or explosive crying for her BF to save her, because, one this is lame, and two, in real life, it seems the hero can miss the beat and not catch me.”

Tony felt something halfway between a sob and a laugh escape his lips at the mention of stupid heroes movies, but the heart was not there. This may not be meant as a blame, but it was still one, and it hurt.

“I don't want to be in danger because of you, that much is true. I have another reason, though. I don't want to be a reason why you have to chose. I don't ever want you to have to chose between my safety and someone else's. I know this time you managed both, but how long until there is no leeway? No backup plan? And you have to face a choice where all the variables are bad? I don't want you to come and save me at the price of someone else, because I would blame myself for it, and you would even more. And I don't want you to chose someone else over me, because I am still selfish, and you would totally blame yourself to death for not being good enough.”

Tony nodded. Yes, he saw her point. She was really great, for bringing it across in a way that didn't really sound like it was all his fault.

“Okay. This is it. I think we both said our parts, didn't we?” When Tony nodded again, she hopped out of the chair, retrieved her purse and put it on the counter, then, she closed in on him, kissed him, passionately, desperately, in a way that said clearly it was the last time, then she laid a little peck on his cheek, and hugged him. “I will send a company to move everything, if you could make sure they don't forget anything, it would be great. I will make sure your schedule for the upcoming week is completely clear. I am putting Jarvis on your case to make sure you don't kill yourself out of stupidity, and I will take disposition so we are not forced to meet each-other for a month, give us some time to heal... You okay with that?”

Tony nodded again, kind of numb, and admired her for taking everything so well, even if she wasn't drunk herself. Once again, he felt grateful to have her, even if it wasn't as a girlfriend anymore, and he regretted not being able to keep her. But it was already duller now. Judging from her speech, there was just no way they would have worked. This was not all that comforting...

She stopped at the elevator door, turned around, smiled, and talked again.  
“Thanks.”

She didn't clarify what for. This was alright.

She disappeared in the shaft, behind the automatic doors, and Tony fell back against the seat's back.  
“I did the right thing, didn't I?”

“It would seem so, Sir.” And how could a computerized sound so sorry, commiserating and proud all at once in a single sentence? Ah, yes, it was Jarvis, and he was Tony's creation. He really was a genius.

See what purpose it served? Tony didn't know either. He had just _dumped/ been dumped by/ agreed to split with_ his perfect girlfriend, there was no amount of genius that could make up for that.

 

Five days later, he had a new arc reactor and suit built, he had hesitated at first, but Pepper had said she was sad he left IronMan go, and he understood her. He had rather she was her usual self without him than see her wither by his side, she probably meant the same for him.

He had dived head first in the engineering, consuming a lot more alcohol than he should, but now the suit was complete.

He had promised Pepper to stop abusing alcohol after one week. Well, not exactly, but he wanted to accept this demand from her, so he only had two more days to drink himself out, then he would stop.

He didn't really feel like engineering anymore, and Rhodey was busy elsewhere. He didn't feel like sleeping around either...

Taking another impulsive (and probably alcohol fuelled) decision, he pulled his phone out and dialed a number from memory (did he mention his memory was great?).

_“Who is it?”_

“Hey Cap! I was thinking...”


	3. Really fun while it lasts

He should have been more wary and guarded against Stark. He really should. But it was just the two of them meeting up, he wasn't there as the Avenger's captain.

 

Stark had said a good drinking binge together at Las Vegas could serve as a mutual apology for the stupid ungrounded insults they had thrown at each other and that they were probably both regretting, and that it would be way less awkward, too.

Steve had hesitated. A place of debauchery, full of light, noise, and way too modern things... This didn't sound like an easy going, relaxing place. At least not to him. But Stark was Stark, he was so pushy and cheerful. He had pushed that, anyway, anything that happened in Vegas stayed in Vegas, and that it was the best place to relax and forget his problems without worrying about what the others would think. Said “others” were way too drunk to even notice his missteps, anyway.

Steve hadn't been all that convinced, but he actually felt very bad for everything he had said, and was ready to endure a night of drunken ramblings and wild billionaire antics, if it meant he could be forgiven.

Well, and there was the way Stark's voice had seemed a bit broken. His cheerful tones weighed down by what he more or less recognized as despair.  
Steve wasn't really sure of why or how it concerned him, but he hadn't been able to turn a blind eye to it. He could blame it on his guilt... Or on the memories he had of Howard... Either or both would do, so Steve decided to let it as it was and not linger on it.

After sighing a tired “yeah”, he hung up and piled clothes for four days in his backpack.

* * *

Tony Stark was waiting for him at the airport's parking. He walked right up to Steve, gestured for someone to take care of his motorcycle, and pulled him along to his own private plane while fingering Steve's bag. “So you brought your shield. Good, I forgot to ask you, but it is probably better to always be prepared... Did anyone tell you about the Monaco incident? That was when I one of the most blatant proofs that I should stay prepared even in vacation, I swear! Good thing you're flying in a private jet, though, you'd have an awful time passing that past the security lane...”

Steve realized that Tony Stark absolutely didn't need any participation from his side to drone on, but he kept listening to him anyway, because Stark's ramble was actually entertaining.

It somehow reminded Steve of Stark (Howard Stark, he would have to do something to compartment his memories, because calling them both the same was messing his marks up) they both had this incredible enthusiasm toward everything, this light shining inside, and cheerful intelligence that could turn into seriousness in half a second. Steve smiled at the reminiscences, but didn't bring it up, he had read Tony Stark's file, and it showed a fracture between him and his father that Steve didn't want to probe at, at least not when he was there as a form of apologies.

They entered the plane and settled down in what was one of the most luxurious places he had visited so far, Steve tried to act normal as Stark slumped in a seat with obvious disregard to his surroundings and waved at a very lightly dressed woman who immediately brought his a glass of... Steve didn't actually know what was in the glass, but it smelled alcoholic even from three meters of distance (but Steve's nose was also enhanced, so it might not have been this strong...).

Steve was pretty surprised when, a few minutes after the take off, Stark waved a hand and the jet somehow turned into a strip joint, with hostesses dancing about the telescopic pole that had come out of the floor, someone massaging his shoulders, music and colorful lights.

His surprise must have showed on his face, because Stark stopped laughing upon glancing at him and raised a brow. “What? Not satisfied with the service?”

Steve was painfully aware of how he was blushing and stuttering, but he answered anyway, the last thing he wanted was to appear ungrateful or judgmental. “Um... I... there was no need to do that for me... I... You're dating someone, aren't you? It seem kind of bad to...”

Thank god, Stark interrupted him before he could completely embarrass himself. “Your news are old, grandpa! As of 126 hours ago, I am perfectly single and there is no longer any problem with enjoying feminine forms in my plane during a flight! Now that I shared the good new, I think a toast is in order!” As if summoned by this, another woman materialized with a tray and set it on the table between them. In a mater of seconds, Stark had pushed a drink in his hand and was cheering with him. “To freedom and bachelorhood!”

Steve drained his glass, pretty sure that it was bad form to refuse, even if he wasn't exactly sure this was an occasion to celebrate, but it explained the sudden invite.

Steve let his gaze rest at the bottom of his glass for a second, then looked up at Stark, who was already filling himself another glass. Steve pinched his lips, wondering what to do, looking back on the arrogant behavior of his team-mate in the helicarrier, then at the way he just launched himself into harm's way twice in a row for others. He thought of how Stark had gone in a potentially deadly situation without a second thought while trusting Steve to save him.

Clearly, Stark was more complex than he had thought at first. He was probably more complex than he had thought on the second and third view too...

Closing his eyes, Steve clutched his glass a little more tightly, but still not enough to crack it. He tried to to understand what had happened since he met Stark today and came to the conclusion that he was feigning indifference either for Steve and for himself, probably both. Well, It wouldn't hurt to play along. At least at first. Steve would still be able to dwell on it later, preferably when Stark was drunk enough to not hold it against him later.

Sighing, Steve relaxed in his seat and handed his glass back to Stark for a refill. He would see later, after all, he didn't have to worry about losing his ability to think straight. “Yeah. To being all alone and not having to try and understand women.”

Stark eyed him suspiciously, but didn't comment his lack of enthusiasm. He mumbled something under his breath, that Steve decoded as: “Peggy Carter, huh?”, even if the music made it hard to be sure. He handed the glass back to Steve and swiftly changed subject. “so! Las Vegas! D'you know what it's all about? I prefer to tell you now, you are not allowed to complain about the fact that I am paying for everything, I find wasting my money very entertaining, and I have much, much more where it comes from. So... Just play along and look happy, the whole point is being happy right? The first goal in life for the whole mankind!..”

Steve listened to him with a faint smile while emptying his glass. Really, Stark shouldn't be that interesting when digressing, but he somehow was.

 

Four hours later (and three time-zones earlier) they were landing, Steve wasn't exactly sure what to make of the whirlwind that was his companion and decided to take everything as it came and not fry his brain trying to understand Tony (he had insisted that Steve lose the “Stark” during the flight).

That is probably the reason he wasn't that stunned when they made it to the hotel and where led to the royal suit, or why he took Tony's comment about his style in a stride and accepted to go on a relooking run.

Or maybe the alcohol he had drunk in the jet was creeping on him, but Steve doubted that, he never managed to get drunk before, and Tony was still able to make coherent sentences even if they drank as much as each-other. Well, Tony was still coherent, yes, but he was chuckling a bit too much. He was probably starting to feel the effects. Steve couldn't help but to be admirative about the quantity he had drunk to still be at that stage.

Steve let Tony drag him from place to place, smiling more broadly at each stupid stunt Tony pulled out. He went to a pair of casino, cracked up as he saw Tony stumbling to gamble tables and win to his condescending competitors all the while explaining to Steve, loud enough for everyone to hear, how it was just simple maths, probability laws and, you see, here he had the more chance, so he was going to bet more, and look, they just fell for it! Wasn't that great?

Tony ended up kicked out of the first casino because he was winning everything, they told Tony that he was too drunk to play money games,and that they could be sued for weakness abuse if they let him play more. Steve had laughed his ass off at Tony's spluttering, and had steered him away while trying his best to look serious and nodding to Tony's indignant comments about how he was winning anyway, so there was no weakness abuse, except coming from him

They had crashed at a dance club afterwards, Tony had taught Steve some new dances where simulating sex was apparently the main goal, it was actually pretty fun, and Tony's bashful innuendos on the fact that he was just showing Steve the steps as a means to put his hands on his hips had surprisingly flattered him.

At this point, Steve had started to suspect that he wasn't exactly in his right mind. Knowing that to simply dismiss it was a proof of drunkenness, he had paused a second to calculate exactly how much alcohol he'd had, but he concluded that he had had just the same amount as this time when he was trying to drown Bucky's death in liquor. He hadn't managed to get drunk that time, so he didn't have to worry about his cognitive abilities.

He was just playing along with Tony, wasn't he? Just making sure to laugh and smile and flirt along so Tony could have a good time.  
…  
Yeah! Totally!

He took another glass of vodka, hunted Tony down and lowered his mouth to his ear (because the music was loud, okay? Like, really loud, if he didn't come close like that, he would need to yell. It was not really flirting. At least not only flirting) and told the billionaire he was hungry.

Ten minutes later, they were both out of the club and into a high stared restaurant, requesting half the menu, because, let's face it, you need to eat a lot, don't you, Steve, with all this super metabolism and everything? Steve smiled and dutifully ate everything Tony pushed to him. And drank everything that ended up in his glass too, but it was wine, not that potent, really.

The second casino was about as hilarious as the first, but not for the same reasons. Tony had picked poker for it, and if there was one thing to say about drunken Tony playing poker, it would be that he had no poker face. Instead he just telegraphed everything that happened in his mind directly on his face. Turns out drunken Tony playing poker doesn't really think about his game either...

Steve stood behind Tony for long enough to get how good he was at the game, bold and intelligent, he applied maths to win there too, but Steve hadn't completely understood the explications Tony had whispered in his ear. (This may or may not have to do with the way he was distracted by the hand wandering down his thigh...) But he had known the rules for a long time, and he wasn't exactly sure if Tony was conning everyone here by plastering distracting expressions on his face, or if he genuinely had the attention span of a goldfish.

When Tony had pushed his whole stack of chips down the table and asked Steve to marry him if his bluff didn't work so he could at least keep one positive thing out of the night, Steve had agreed. Partly because he was distracted by the way Tony had slipped his hand around his legs and on his butt. Partly because he just wanted to see the costumed penguins reactions at this. Partly because he didn't think Tony would follow up with his promise. Partly because he knew Tony only had one crappy pair and he wanted to see what the other player's reactions would be upon understanding how badly they got bluffed while being told so to their face. Partly because he didn't really mind it at that exact moment.  
Mostly, thought, but he didn't understand then, because he really was out of his mind.

The player that had been faring the most badly hadn't faltered, probably taking a calculated risk because his own stack was already less than the regular bids. Tony had lost. To a pair of kings.

Tony had looked at their two hands with wide eyes for ten seconds, shook his head, told the other player that it was stupid to call his bluff with this little, poked Steve until he stopped laughing, then, in a swift movement, he had stood from his seat, kissed Steve's breath away, and declared they were supposed to be elsewhere.

Steve had followed Tony. The part of his brain that was still working had been a little panicked at Tony's “let's get married” but he had reasoned that it couldn't be that bad, and that, anyway, one couldn't get married in a couple of hours, especially not when they were both men. Tony would sober up by the morning, and he would probably laugh at the idea and make a joke about how he wouldn't mind sleeping with Steve, but it may be a little early for marriage, that was if he remembered it at all.

Steve was wrong. It took them exactly forty-seven minutes to get married after exiting the casino.


	4. On for a... Strange awakening

Tony woke up to the strange sensation of warmth and comfort. It shouldn't feel that strange, really, he does usually sleep in an incredibly luxurious bed made especially to feel comfy and agreeably warm at all time. But still, something about this situation didn't register well.

After a pair of minutes of drifting about, he finally put something to qualify his surprise.

1-He didn't have any nightmare, and apparently slept like a log through the entire night and a good part of the morning.

2-He wasn't hungover, and considering his few memories of the evening (and day) before, it was very largely unlikely, someone must have forced some water and medication on him at one point or another through the night, which was thoughtful and nice, so he kind of suspected Steve to be the perpetrator of those acts.

That made the third factor arguably frightening, though, because really...

3- What he felt against his arms and face was skin. He had woken up feeling a foreign skin against his often enough to understand the sensation on an immediate basis. He hadn't deemed it as strange at first because it was this usual to him, but now that he was paying attention, the skin was warmer than usual, and he wasn't really covered by much but still felt pretty good. Who was that warm, anyway? Actually, Tony knew who could be this warm, some super-metabolized soldier that he was already suspecting of helping him through his hangover...

So. Logically... Steve. He was sleeping against Steve.

In the same bed.

Well, that can happen, right? Good thing he didn't remember the night, he didn't want to know whether he had asked the guy to sleep with him because he was afraid of nightmares. Tony was pretty sure he wouldn't actually do that. He had years of drunken behavior under the belt and probably wouldn't do something that embarrassing, even while completely out of his mind. He must have been exhausted and clingy and the guy hadn't wanted to leave him alone, and had decided that it was a better idea to look after him anyway.

Yeah. That made sense. Seeing how he had bothered to nurse him. Tony would have to thank him for that, really.

Something seemed flawed in his train of thoughts. Something like... Skin. He felt skin, not fabric. Against his face and arms, and, yeah, those were pecs. Tony didn't have any clothes on. Okay, so much for the innocently nursing drunken Tony scenario. He really couldn't picture Steve completely undressing him, he didn't think he would have hopped into bed topless with a naked man just to nurse him either.

That left...

Case 1: They had actually had sex together.

Case 2: Tony had undressed either to seduce Steve or to take a shower and had done something that had forced Steve to remove his own top, but then had passed out on him and Steve had decided to stay close.

Seeing how he felt clean, Tony leaned more towards the shower gone bad scenario. Incidentally, it was also the one that he wouldn't be ashamed to tell anyone about later. Not that he'd never had sex with a guy or puked on someone before, but those were very old memories of before he passed legal drinking age and built himself a decent drunk filter.

 

Well. Now, he had a reputation to keep. It would be a good idea to be up and at least eating breakfast by the time Steve woke up. Because it was normal to be kind of hopeless when wasted, but he was supposed to send the message that the life went on and the night didn't mean anything once he woke up.

Sucking in a fortifying breath, Tony opened his eyes and pushed himself up to his hands, only to see Steve turning his head upward and opening his own eyes too. “Morning.” The guy didn't even sound lost. It was like...

“Were you awake, already?”

“Hmm, sort of, I wasn't exactly sleeping for the last few hours... More like... floating? I felt your breathing change five minutes ago, but I wasn't sure you really rested enough so I didn't move, in case it was just a phase.”

Great! So Steve had stayed there on the bed for longer than he needed with Tony leaning on his chest while carefully listening to his breathing and doing his best not to wake him up? That was a bad sign, really bad. Tony didn't want to ask. Really, he didn't think asking if he'd actually demanded Steve to stay by him was a good idea. It would be best to just let it slide and not dwell in it. If Steve was really that considerate, he probably wouldn't bring it up. Ever. 

Satisfied with his decision, Tony rolled over to the bed's border and pushed himself upright. He didn't even take one full step before collapsing.

Before Tony even have the time to analyze what had happened and wonder if he still had that much alcohol left in his bloodstream, Steve was crouching in front of him and heaving him back on the mattress. And then, Tony wasn't wondering or speculating anymore. He had the response, already, all the points were linking together in his brain and pointing him to one scenario.

Because Steve was naked, completely naked. He had nursed him and stayed in bed to look over him, he was still doing it even now. On another plan, Tony felt like his hip joints had turned into water, and a dull pain that he hadn't really take notice of before was radiating through his spine, and, now that he was upright, he could feel something leaking from his ass.

Forget the not sexual possibility, then, they had actually slept, and had sex together. Cool. On another hand, it wasn't a complete embarrassment either, Steve was still Captain America, he was still built like a god (or demigod, really, one could think him and Thor were brothers!) he was still a considerate partner who, by the look of it, even cleaned him afterwards (because no sweat or sperm were dried on his skin), he had still somehow managed to get Tony to sleep all his needed hours. That wasn't that bad.

“You don't remember.” Tony snapped back in reality and considered Steve and his not-question. Why did he have to look that worried? It was just sex, damn it!

“Nope. I am guessing I initiated? Why would you go along with it?”

Steve pinched his lips, avoiding Tony's eyes. Damn! He hadn't taken it seriously, right? “I... Yes, I guess you did. And... Hem I don't know for sure, it is... strange”

Okay, so mister 'I can't get drunk' had met his alcohol tolerance limit, and he was ashamed of his actions. This Tony could work with, it could be a bit awkward, but they would be able to set a 'this never happened, we'll never talk of it' and continue a more or less normal relationship.

“Don't beat yourself over it, it is not exactly the first time it happens to me.”

Steve looked back at him, them down at his hands and reached for Tony's left hand with his left one. “Pretty sure it is, there is no mention of this type of things anywhere in the internet...”

Tony opened his mouth to say something about how he had most likely missed his youngest years when Steve's movement caught up in his brain. Left hand to left hand. It wasn't a logical choice, if Steve had just wanted to take his hand, he wouldn't have crossed and just used the one in front, so left with right... About the moment he caught that, he also understood why Steve had used this particular move. There was something, something shiny, on their ring fingers.

“Oh, fuck! Did we? Tell me that was your idea.”

Steve cleared his throat and shook his head.

“You remember everything? Why didn't you stop this?”

“Well. Technically, there is no way I was drunk, so there is no lapse in my memory... Practically, I really don't know why I didn't understand how bad it was. I... I never lost contact with my sense that badly before, I was always able to tell what was just stupid from what was a really bad or dangerous idea.”

Tony furrowed his brows. Steve wasn't making sense. How could he not be drunk but lose himself at the same time? “Before?”

“When the atmosphere was right? I didn't manage to get drunk to forget, or to drown my sorrows, so I'm pretty sure it's not alcohol. Or at least, not only alcohol. I need... company... to get drunk? Happy drunken company...”

Tony wasn't really sure he was understanding this right. He would have to have Jarvis search on this. Possibly test on Steve, too. “So I got you drunk by my cheer amazing drunken presence?”

Steve blushed. “Somehow, it sounds even worse when you say it.”

Tony considered him for a few seconds, and came to the conclusion that Steve was serious. He heaved a sigh and started to get up, but got pushed back in the mattress immediately. “Give your body some time to recover, I don't think you can walk just yet.”

How could anyone be so earnest? “Okay, give me my phone?” Steve immediately set into motion, walking over a discarded pair of pants and pulling Tony's phone and wallet from the pockets. Tony took the phone as soon as he could and pulled Jarvis' interface up, while observing his 'husband' who was cleaning the room and taking clean clothes for the both of them.

“What can I do for you Sir?”

“I need you to look up Vegas' marriage registers, confirm my contract and ring up my lawyers, send a note to Pep too, tell her I don't expect her to take care of this for me, but that I am sorry for the clusterfuck and that I will do my best to not burden her with my stupidity.” Tony smiled upon seeing Steve dressing up, he really had muscles in all the right places, kind of a shame that he didn't remember the night. Shaking his stupid thoughts out, Tony pulled a T-shirt from the clothes pile Steve had given him and started to dress up.

“The marriage is genuine and became effective in the hour it was passed, as per Nevada's laws, and was federally registered a few hours ago. I fear it will need a full blown divorce to be annulled.”

Tony stopped in the process of pulling his shirt on.“That was fast, even for you, J”

“I took the liberty of making those verification as soon as the problem came up in the news”

Tony swallowed and finished smoothing his shirt as Jarvis pulled up a news article on the phone interface. Steve was by his side now, alerted by the 'news' part, probably. “Put that on the TV.” Trusting Jarvis to pull up all the relevant infos and Steve to read them, Tony snatched the bottoms from the bed and wobbled to the bathroom.

 

When he emerged next, fully clothed and confident he wouldn't end up in sticky underwear, Steve was finishing to fix a hangover compatible breakfast while reading the infos on the TV. Tony was pretty impressed at that, seeing Steve still had all his fingers and was skimming through the last lines of the articles. How could he be so good at everything?

A traitorous part of his brain was whispering that he actually wouldn't mind it too much if they stayed married provided that Steve continued to be so damn considerate, amazing and handsome. Tony mercilessly squished the thought and flopped down on the couch.

“So?”

“Someone saw us, took it upon himself to engage a stakeout, got good photos of roughly our whole tour and sold it to a news station.” Steve pushed a tray laden with ginger ale, water and painkillers, broth and crackers on Tony's lap, then turned around to fetch his own breakfast. “The speculations so far are: I got forced to play along with you by whatever government agency that wanted an IronMan armor of their own; I am secretly a gold digger and used your weakened state to marry you and get half your fortune upon divorce...”

“God! That's stupid! I hope it's not true, because you'd be on for a surprise, I actually locked that opportunity very early on, if you were able to get anything, it would be the part of my personal account that grew while we were married, that is clearly not worth it, it wouldn't amount to much more than a billion.”

Steve leveled him an unimpressed look while seating himself besides him with his tray of pancakes, eggs and beacon (he was deliberately tempting Tony, that was for sure). “Yeah, just a billion for spending a mere day with you and having the time of my life, pretty sure it isn't worth the effort. I would make so much more by finding a normal job...” Tony stopped dead in the motion of staling a beacon strip from Steve's plate and blinked up at him only to find a perfectly blank face. Hem... What to make of that? “Eat your own food, and take the medication, your head will make you regret it if you don't.”

“But!” The beacon smelled so good!

“No buts.” Okay, so maybe staying married wasn't such a good idea, the guy was a tyrant. Steve waited for Tony to pick crackers and start eating to go on. “Or that you made a drug to get me drunk and pushed marriage on my defenseless self in an attempt to... I don't know for sure, something between stealing my serum-enhanced person from the US property and trying to replicate it for yourself, using my positive image as a publicity, deliberately annoying some senators you don't like... That point wasn't extremely clear.”

Tony set the broth bowl back down on the tray (it wasn't half bad, but he would be dead before admitting that) “And your own hypothesis?” He really shouldn't be so anxious of his response, he didn't care about the man, anyway.

“You shouldn't play poker when you are that drunk.” A little light appeared in his eye, hinting to a joke that Tony didn't get.

“Pretty sure I am amazing at it anyway, it is just maths, in the end.”

Steve smiled, huffing a breath. “You already told me that yesterday, and you were amazing at it. You just... Bluffing an everything out with a pair of seven is still kind of too bold.”

“I won?”

“Nope.”

“Ah... And the connexion?”

 

Steve explained him the night as he remembered it and Tony couldn't help but laugh at the insanity of the situation.

“So, I married you on a lost bet? Best story ever! I think we should just put up press conference, tell the whole truth and roll on to the divorce. We agree on everything, no reason to lose time with lawsuits and whatnot, it won't take us much more than a week, and it will be forgotten in a couple of months.”

Steve nodded and forced Tony to finish his breakfast, then took the tray from him and went on to tidying things while Tony gave Jarvis instructions and dictated his apology note to Pepper. There would be a bit of an uproar for a couple of weeks, but nothing like what happened when he closed the weapon factory or told the world he was IronMan.


	5. Pretty sure I'll regret... Well, everything

Steve finished tidying the cooking utensils, even if he knew it wasn't necessary, the room service would take care of it, it was part of the suite's price. But he wanted – needed something to do, a focus point that would help him hide what happened inside him while he figured it out for himself.

The four hours he had spent drifting in bed, Tony's warm body pressed on his chest hadn't been enough, it seems. It had helped, sure, at least in the fact that he was fairly prepared for anything Tony might tell him once he woke up, from a love declaration to an anger fit that would have dwarfed the helicarrier incident. The second had seemed more probable, at the time, and Steve was happy to have gone through the morning without any accusations or anger outburst, that was already pretty good.

Steve didn't know how to cope with the other part of his feelings though.

He sighed and realized he had stayed standing in front of the drying dishes for a good minute spacing out and decided he needed to do something, or Tony would start wondering if he was alright. Steve didn't want him to pick up on his confusion, that would make their future interactions awkward. Well as awkward for Tony than for him...

Spotting a notepad and pen on the counter, Steve snatched them and walked over to the couch, flopping down at the other end compared to Tony. Tony. His husband. Just for now, though, not real in anyway, the marriage is flawed and could normally be annulled on the ground of Tony's alcohol levels, so definitely not really husband, just sort of. For now. Before they work their way through the paperwork.

Married. Him. By accident. He had thought if it ever happened, it would have a meaning... He thought he would find someone special...

An old memory filtered up to him.  
 _I figured I'd wait._  
 _For what?_  
 _The right partner._

And now here he was, married to someone. Already planning to divorce. Not the story he was thinking about when he told Peggy those words.

He shook those thoughts out and opened the pad. He might as well fake drawing something, starring into the mid-distance with a notebook on his lap wouldn't help reassure Tony.

He didn't have the inspiration or will to actually draw something, so he settled for doodles, lines and circles and boxes. The occasional head construction. All common exercises he could do in his sleep, and that let him a good chunk of free head space to sort his feelings out.

He would probably have a different feeling about it if he couldn't remember it, or if the evening hadn't rolled on that way. But in the end, there it was: a dance date, dinner, kiss, marriage, sex. His old-fashioned plan in one day. All the things he hadn't really dared to dream of when he had followed Bucky and his two friends to this date in the future. Just, in fast forward, how fitting, a mirror image of his life as of late.

Another memory passed forth, accusative, now.  
 _Looks like finding a partner wasn't that hard after all!_

 

And there was the fast forward again: yeah, don't worry about that, we'll be divorced in a week. Not that he had anything against Tony, his response was legitimate. Only... He probably didn't give the same amount of thoughts to being married. In the other hand, HE didn't remember the night, so this marriage never even began to feel real for him. Steve, though, wasn't the same, at some point, he had said yes, and he had thought yes too, and he still remembered this now, even if he wouldn't say yes if the same question had been asked now. Or would he?

He had never really thought of marriage so far, not seriously. And he hadn't ever thought he would be married to a man, either. Well. Guess same sex love never even passed through his head before. Wasn't bad, in hindsights.

His pen stopped running across the paper as the last night replayed itself in his mind, picture clear, with all the sounds, sensations and scents.

_Tony is facing him, taking deliberate, predatory steps toward him, a telling glint in his eyes as he stalks closer. Steve steps back until he hits the door post, then Tony closes in again, his nose ghosting close to Steve's, so close he can almost feel it.“We are married now, let's move on with the wedding night. You won't let me hanging here, right? Sweetheart?”_

_Steve doesn't actually answer that, his breath hitching in his throat, as Tony already moves even closer, inserting his right thigh and hip between Steve's legs and sliding his hands up Steve's abs, under the shirt._

_Steve's sensations hit overdrive almost instantly, but then, Tony slides up his leg to breath out on his jawbone. The friction on his groin, the clear hint of Tony's own arousal against his hipbone and the warmth, the scent of Tony's mouth, then his tongue darting out to tease his chin... The part of Steve's brain that usually thinks sense and analyses things critically goes dead and he tackles Tony to the ground in half a second._

_Tony gasps and clutches his waist, startled by the sudden movement, and though Steve register that, as well as the pain where nails dug into his skin, it just makes him more exited, more aroused. The bestial part of him relishes in his control over this situation, over his husband, as he frames his face with his forearms and presses his whole weigh down on their joined hips, making him gasp for air, squirm and claw, in a way so similar to panic, yet so different._

_Tony pants and whines in a pitch Steve wouldn't think possible for a grown adult. His hips start moving, the leg still slotted between Steve's pressing up. And then he talks, his voice husky in a way that sends a shiver through Steve's whole body, even if his words are clear as ever. “I normally have nothing against fucking on the ground like animals, but I am usually not the one pinned to the floor either. What about moving it to the bed, huh? And undressing, too. Naked sex sounds pretty good, right now.”_

Steve didn't know how they both undressed without him ripping any cloth open, but he knew how they moved to the bed. Bridal carry, at least he did do one thing right... Once they had been settled-  
 _Always wanted to be a soldier? Now you are, just like all the rest!_

Peggy's vicious remark cut through his nightly recollections, successfully stopping him from dwelling too deeply in it, and bringing guilt forth. Tony didn't think having sex together was good he even asked why Steve would go along with it, he definitely wasn't up for a repeat performance, probably wished this didn't even happen in the first place. Steve should just forget it, not try to revive it, no matter how enjoyable it had been. This was a one-time-thing. Not even meant to be a thing at all.

As he opened his eyes again, Steve registered a stillness on his left side and he turned his head to face Tony. He was staring at him, a teasing smile hooked on his face. “Thinking of something good?”

Steve blushed and stumbled on an explication, but failed miserably. Thankfully, Tony seemed more amused than upset.

“Kind of regretting my memory loss, if this was that great.”

“Well, I don't.” The mumble wasn't meant to be heard, but Tony caught it anyway and furrowed his brow. Steve felt compelled to explain his statement and smooth Tony's bruised ego, even if it was really awkward. “You'd be cracking jokes on my lack of practice right about now, if you did remember.”

“Whut?” Tony looked like he had just seen an alien (no, actually, Tony hadn't even looked phased at all upon seeing Thor or the Chi'tauris... Tony actually had the look of someone who'd been told Captain America was a virgin. That was more accurate). “You're joking, right? There is no way you never...” Steve felt his cheeks heating up and wondered what shade of red he was broadcasting, exactly. “Well, at least you had an experienced partner to drill you, I can't say as much.”

If asked, Steve would have said there was no way Tony could make unintended innuendos. He would also have said his face couldn't heat more than when he'd told Tony he was a virgin. Turns out he was mistaken. When Tony realized the double meaning and Steve's embarrassment, he stumbled out an explication. “I was talking about my first time with a man, not about you! Well, not exactly my first time, because I was on charge that once, but the time when...”

Steve stared at Tony while he stumbled about his explanation of (apparently) a good ten parties where he ended up so hammered that he slept with just about anything that proposed (but was insistent about condoms, probably because he wasn't making any difference in sex and didn't realize two men couldn't conceive a child; good thing, actually, because there were some nasty diseases going around, and seriously, even being a billionaire still doesn't cure from HIV, and he donates to research on those, but still, no cure yet, so he really his grateful that he did protect himself, but it's not a problem with you, Steve, seriously, turns out sexually transmissible diseases need to be transmitted to you first before you can pass them along, so it would be more legitimate that you freak out rather than him, but then again, he guessed Steve was immune to such things, so he wasn't really concerned by all this, and-) “I see, I understand, you can stop, now.”

Steve smiled as Tony realized he had been rambling and paused. “Yeah, okay. I was a good lay, and guide, right? Had an enjoyable night?”

Steve couldn't push back the images... _Tony ripping open a couple of lube packet, pressing them in Steve's hand and literally guiding them through the preparations motions._ He still managed to focus back on the present, but not fast enough to avoid showing what his mind was doing to him on his face. At least, that is what the smug smile on the billionaire’s face suggested. “It was... Erm... alright?”

“Just alright?” Tony flashed an insulted expression at him that made him understand instantly that he was just joking. “Not 'fucking great'? I must be out of practice...”

Steve decided humor was the best way to get out of that thread or conversation. “Okay, okay, it was great, happy, now? Well, at least it was for me, you, on the other hand, spent most of the time complaining, explaining, or making demands. It seems to be how you enjoy yourself, though, so I can't tell, really. Is there a manual on how you work?”

“Nope, no one managed to decipher me yet. But, hey, I hear the greatest artists were always misunderstood.”

“Sure, you turned talking into an art. So, what are your results, yet?”

“Well, if we want to go for an annulment, it can be completed within the week here in Nevada, seems we don't actually need to reside since we got married here, The degree of alcohol is enough to warrant such a request, and in case we need to prove we, or at least I, was drunk, all the tabs were on my credit card, Jarvis can pull those up. An annulment would make the whole thing void, it will be more or less like it never happened. Just, it is required that we don't wait too long before doing it, because the 'lack of consent' becomes contestable if we, I don't know, move in together and wait three years, something like that. Talking about that, I have a room ready for you at the tower, I placed you just opposite to Clint, Hawkeye, you know. I went light, because maybe you don't all have my tastes and wouldn't enjoy the full floor with the patio, terrace, summer living room, music room, chef kitchen no-one ever uses, heliport and all the jazz, so I made those common, you each have just a bedroom, living room, kitchen fused with the dinning room, bathroom. No way I cut down on the bathroom, though. Jacuzzi bath and massaging shower are mandatory if you want to live in one of my places. Other than that, I rigged a 3D home cinema and a gym, there is also an indoor pool, but in a veranda, so there can still be sun inside, but I made this revolutionary image obstructing glass for when the weather is bad, also,-”

“Okay! So annulment is the easiest?” Yeah, because, okay, Tony's digressions were interesting and everything, but Steve was pretty sure the feelings he should have just then were just 'that's thoughtful, but maybe he's doing a bit too much, now, isn't he?' WITHOUT the 'that's cute' part. Yeah, Steve was almost certain he was letting the word 'marriage' mess with him, he didn't think Tony was cute on the plane trip, handsome, yes, interesting, yes, charming, even, but not cute. Cute was definitely Not something you should think while looking at someone telling you he wants to void a marriage with you in a way that make it like it didn't even happen in the first place. There was no maybe there. Seriously, just like he said, there was not 'consent' in this all, it didn't mean anything, and he was just letting his education lead him on, telling him that he was married and should, I don't know, find every single detail endearing and keep loving his partner until the earth turned backwards, but that was artificial and unwanted. Period.

“Yup, well, because I assume you'd like to do this in the US, if we don't bother with that, it is just slightly longer by divorcing aboard, because some countries don't require those 'proofs that the relationship hasn't been functional for the last six months' and all the jazz like most of the divorce laws over here has, but it could be kind of bad for your image if we did, because you're Captain America, and you are supposed to stand for everything American, and blah blah blah... Annulment is probably better for your reputation too, we'll cook up a story that even with a metabolism four time faster than the average human, you still couldn't keep up with the speed I was filling your glass at, and that we lost touch with our brains somewhere along the way, that's all. I have to tell you, though, it may get instrumentalized by sore losers of politics and haters that will say this is why homosexual marriages should have stayed banned from the get go, don't be surprised by it.”

Tony focused back on his tablet, and on the TV screen that he had turned into a monitor using some technological tricks Steve wasn't sure if he wanted to know or should just admit without looking deeper. “Well! And for the Press conference, where do you think we should hold it? I am crossing SI headquarters right out, it has no connection with you, and you are half of this, so, it leaves New York, though I don't really know where. The Tower seems too much... Any idea?”

“Why not here in Vegas, this is about this marriage-annulment, both will happen here, I don't see why we should move back and forth across the United States for this.”

“Sounds good, in fact. I kind of don't want to deal with a conference just now, though. I'll tweet that I drank way too much and I have a hangover like those from when I was piling student parties on one another and that I will explain my drunken adventures when I feel human again, say, at 6 PM, first likeable TV station that proposes gets the exclusivity, sounds good enough, right?” To Tony's credit, he did glance up before moving on. “Sold then, sending. You should dress up a bit, but no suit, suit is for me, seeing the news we want to give, looking coordinated is not the good approach. Take blue jeans, tee-shirt with some sort of embellishment, jacket, it will do, and you'll be more comfortable. Maybe something with your star on it, just to show you are serious but not on duty, for the shield, I'd say we let it on my suit of armor's back, so if we need to fight, we can call on it, and it doesn't make us look like we're heading out for battle in the meantime.”

They spent a couple of hours going over the different points of the interview to come (and it was to be a live, because TV tended to cut the sequences up and that could corrupt discourses a great deal). When Steve got hungry, he glanced at the kitchen, wondering if he should fix himself a snack. He didn't have the time to wonder what to cook, for Tony was already working his magic and ordering something (lots of something, by the sound of the command) delivered.

By the time they cleared the food, Steve knew how Tony's three newest invention worked (and he'd only had to ask him to downgrade his speech to standard English twice), had been promised a new costume in the week to come (with all the considerations on design, bulletproofing, color repartition, weight, accessories and even where to put a first-aid kit addressed on the fly through direct speech, quick sketches and blueprints) and had confessed he didn't have a Tee-shirt that met Tony's requirements for the interview. The last problem had been dealt with at an amazing speed, Tony had taken out a new Internet window, skimmed through clothing stores that delivered and were based in Vegas, chosen a design, and called them, promising an insane tip if they got the package before five.

Steve still was a bit unsettled by the way Tony liked to spend (waste) his money, but he remembered the warning in the plane and didn't say a thing.

Not wanting to get up and clear the coffee table just yet, Steve just relaxed back in the seat, stretching his arms and legs and arching him head back over the top of the couch.

His eyes were closed, so he shouldn't have gotten a clue, but he still heard Tony swallow a bit too loudly. Curious, he opened his left eye just a bit, enough for him to see, bit with his lashes still hiding him from the outside. Tony was starring. It wasn't just him being self conscious, his eyes were trailed to Steve's neck. Was this even possible? It was Tony who had brought up the marriage idea and initiated on sex the last night, even with alcohol involved, it still meant something, right? Maybe he actually found Steve attractive?

To test his theory, Steve tried arching a bit more, letting his back leave the couch and his head fall even further backwards, then swallowed, conscious of the way his throat was moving up and down. It didn't fail, Tony pinched his lips and leaned in a bit. Okay, so he had his answer. Tony was interested. Now, what did he want to do with that?

Steve settled back down and closed his eyes for real, pondering on his options. He could not do anything and regret it later, or make use of what he knew... And regret it later. He forced himself to review all the reasons why sleeping with Tony again was bad. There was the fact that their “relationship” was near non-existent and doomed to end in the week, there was the fact that they were teammates and this would strain their work together, there was his own integrity, and the fact he didn't have the excuse of not knowing what he was doing anymore...

There was how gorgeous Tony had looked when Steve was in him, how he breathed, choked on sounds, arched under him, shivered and moaned. There was the certitude he wouldn't get that ever again once they left this city, there was the fact that he still wasn't sure he liked this new world enough to refuse himself something on the ground that it may make his interactions awkward later on...

Steve Stood, gathered the plastic containers from the table and brought those to the kitchen, trashed them, and pulled a vanilla ice-cream pint from the freezer, helped himself to a spoon and went back to his seat. Why not let Tony take the decision?

Steve was careful not to look obvious. He innocently suckled on the spoon, left out satisfied sighs that sounded pretty sexual (he knew it very well, he had heard those exact sounds not twelve hours earlier) wiped a trail of melting ice-cream that was spilling from his lips and opened his legs wide so he wouldn't warm the container with them.

He hadn't eaten half the pint when Tony cleared his throat. “You know, it is kind of unfair that you remember fucking me and I don't have a single memory...”

Now, if that wasn't a come-on? Steve opted for his trademark dry humor, that will show he wasn't adverse without being too obvious. “Sure is a shame that I am the only one plagued by flashbacks when looking at your face... Well, what can we do about that?”

Tony looked at him as if he'd grown a second head, and Steve wondered idly if it was the open ended question or the admission of the flashbacks that had surprised him. Seeing how he seemed frozen, Steve decided to up his game, sweeping his fingers along the ridge of the ice-cream pint and absently sucking on them while starring straight ahead.

“I don't know? Any idea?” Well! Tony was clearly out of his game.

“Your voice is strange, did you drink enough? You should get properly hydrated, you know.” Steve knew he was rapidly leaving the domain of what could be called accidental flirt and edging toward full blown seduction, but he couldn't make himself care. He leaned into Tony's space and presented him with a spoonful of ice-cream. Tony accepted, still looking a bit stunned he was rapidly regaining his composure, if the way he left his tongue slip out when Steve pulled the spoon out was any clue.

Steve wasn't one bit surprised when Tony leaned in too and kissed him, and he responded immediately, teasing and sucking and nipping, but his reasonable side still forced him to ask. “Doesn't that kind of invalidate the 'lack of consent' issue?”

“Hmmm. Pretty sure there is still plenty of alcohol in my bloodstream.”

Steve considered the answer for a couple of seconds. “Well, there is none in mine, doesn't that become weakness abuse on my part?” He still let Tony push his shirt up and leaned in the touch to show he still wasn't adverse to doing this.

“Could be an issue... But not if I am forcing myself on you. Then it is just you being self-sacrificing idiot that won't use your enhanced strength in order not to harm drunk me...” He finished pulling Steve's shirt up and pushed him down on his back. Steve understood this might get a bit different from last time.

The idea of exchanging roles surprisingly didn't bother him at all. He let Tony suck a bruise on his collarbone, grabbed the hem of his shirt and started tucking it over Tony's head. “You know, you might want to move it to the bed, lube is in the bedside table”

Tony smiled at him, and them turned his eyes toward the ice-cream container (that had somehow landed on the coffee table during their make-out session) with an evil glint in them.

Funny how his reason for panicking were messed up.


	6. What Chapter? This is basically Porn

“No.” Tony turned back to Steve, who was starring him down with one of his unimpressed look. Tony was stunned to see he could still muster such an authority aura while flat on his back on a couch, shirtless, breathless, flushed, with a hickey slowly fading on his chest and a slightly afraid look in his eyes.

Too bad Tony had always been impervious to authority. He left a smirk spread itself over his mouth and stretched his hand toward the coffee table.

Before he could even reach the ice-cream pint, Steve tugged at him, and he somehow found himself pinned in the cushions, face down, where Steve had been laid out just a couple of seconds sooner, with both his arms folded behind his back, a broad hand securing his wrists together. He blinked a couple of times, trying to understand just how that happened.

“I said 'no'.” Steve's firm tone didn't admit any backtalk. It was the 'Captain' voice, and Tony felt warmth traveling down his middle to lodge itself in his groin. He arched his back in, grinding his hips down in the sofa seat. This shouldn't be so hot. He should be panicking his head off at being manhandled and restrained that easily. His instinctive reaction should be to call the armor for help.

Tony just rolled his shoulder, searching a comfortable point, and tugged his wrists a bit. Steve's hand didn't hurt him at all, but still didn't give in to the pull. Tony was getting hard (harder, anyway) and that was a bit strange to him. Of course he had had BDSM bouts before (there were very few sexual things he hadn't tried out), but he hadn't liked being restrained much, and even with a carefully cultivated atmosphere, it should have taken him a couple of minutes to even start getting off from this type of situation. Something here had short-circuited his instinctive fear of being at someone else's mercy, and he had jumped straight into arousal at being manhandled.

Tony filled the situation away in his head to analyze later and wondered how to get Steve to shift from innocently stopping something he didn't like into kinky play. Taunting seemed like a good way. “Geez, Cap! Give a man some warning!” The short glance he sneaked over his shoulder showed him a confused Steve. He probably didn't even know what BDSM was in the first place. “You couldv'e just asked you know, I'd probably have accepted to play along.”

“Huh? What are you... Do I want to know?” Well, that wasn't a no, maybe Tony could corrupt him. And that probably was the reason he was already hard, the idea of having straight as an arrow Captain America playing sex games that could easily be described as dirty. He lowered himself until his shoulder rested on the seat and turned his head sideways, to still be able to breathe.

Steve was kneeling over his tights, which was ideal for his plan. Tony dragged his knees forward until his butt was level with Steve's groin and pressed back. He was flattered to encounter a hardness. “I can't read minds, you know? I was just telling you if you had something for manhandling and restraining, you could have told me so, and I would have been pleased to comply. Or maybe not, it's not usually that good.”

He saw Steve blush and blink repeatedly, and wondered if he would let go and deny everything, but instead, the grasp tightened on his wrists, sending a new heat wave down his groin. “Thanks, I guess? I... This is a thing?”

Tony snorted, strangely, Steve's innocence wasn't annoying or cooling him down, it was actually cute and endearing to have this difference between the expert way he was immobilizing Tony's arms (probably more due to soldier training than sex plays) and his total lack of knowledge towards kinks. “Everything can be a 'thing', Cap. But, yeah, submission and humiliation plays are amongst the most commons ones.”

Steve scrunched his nose. “Humiliation? That seems so wrong.”

“I think the same, but calling your partner names is one of the first steps in bedroom plays. With handcuffs, I guess.” Tony was great at multitasking, so he also gridded his ass against Steve's parts while answering.

Turns out Steve is descent at multitasking too, since he yanked Tony upright with his free hand and started feeling Tony's chest up, while pressing his hips forward so the hardened bulk of his pants was digging further into Tony, and answering. “Submission sounds kind of wrong too, you know. Forcing oneself into someone is called rape, I was never very comfortable with it.”

Steve lowered his mouth on Tony's neck. Okay, now Tony was understanding why his partners got annoyed when he multi-tasked on them. Thinking up his reply took him twice longer than it should (but since he was a genius, it was still quick). “That's why there is an etiquette to that kind of things. Usually there is a safeword. I mean, when deep in plays, there are times when you say no, but don't actually want to stop. Safeword is the moment you signal that the game isn't a game to you anymore, and that it is going too far. You need to trust your partner to stop, to really stop, without a second's delay when you call it in. Especially if he is stronger, like you, or if you are tied up. Guess it is a part of the reason I preferred to keep my control so far. I mean, being helpless and everything is thrilling, kind of like having sex out in the open. There is this 'what if' and that fear that ads to the pleasure, but when you are me and have as much enemies as me, letting yourself be tied up include some risks that aren't sexy at all. And it is without mentioning the fact that all partners won't decide your comfort is more important than their pleasure in the end...”

“You... You trust I will? Stop, that is?” Steve seemed flattered, but a bit uncertain, like he wasn't absolutely sure of his own control.

“Baby, I know you will. No maybes, no questions asked, and probably a mood-killer apology and a talk about why I freaked out and promise not to do that ever again. I even trust there won't even be a need to safeword it, because you are so damn observant and considerate that you'll notice I am uncomfortable before I even do.”

Steve paused to think about it. In the sense that he didn't talk, because his hand hadn't paused, teasing a nipple, then skimming over Tony's sternum, gently circling the reactor's scars before sliding down towards Tony's abs. “Thank you.” He paused again, taking some time to lick the side of Tony's neck. “So you want it? You want me to get forceful on you? Would that please you?”

That was a question. A real question, Steve making sure he wasn't misinterpreting the signals before going for it. It wasn't anything of dirty talk or teasing, but Tony still shivered when he heard it. “Oh, yes! Definitely. Yes, yes please. I want you to restrain me, direct me, anything you want.” Tony knew he should be a little embarrassed at what he just said, if only because he had just told that to Captain America, but there was no place for shame there.

Thinking on it objectively, it was strange, almost frightening, how there was no shame to be found anywhere in him, when he had just asked to be played with and fucked up the ass by one of his teammates he barely knew and was not even in speaking terms with just two days ago. Tony pushed that train of thoughts away. He would deal with it later, now was the time for enjoying things without considering the consequences.

“So you enjoy this.” It wasn't a question. Tony was kind of amazed that Steve managed to say this without sounding judgmental in any way. If anything, he seemed pensive. “ Then this is why...”

“Huh? Why what?” Tony swallowed and sighed a breathy moan as Steve palmed his groin through the pants and started massaging his hardened dick. Tony whimpered as his pants tightened again and he had no way of opening them and relieving the pressure (his hands where still trapped in Steve's hand, and that was still incredibly hot). “God, please tell me I didn't come in my pants or anything of the inexperienced teenager realm!”

Steve huffed a laugh, and it tickled Tony's sensitive (and now wet with saliva) neck, sending his back arching as he instinctively tried to press his shoulders closer to Steve. “You didn't...” Steve paused then, and Tony felt his lips stretch against the back of his neck. Well, wasn't that ominous? “Wonder if I could make you?” Steve pressed a bit stronger, bucking his hips forward. The pressure on his parts and against his ass just a bit too much, and this was why he had gone for men at one point before, they had a dick too and they knew intimately what felt good, where the pain could turn into pleasure.

Tony drowned in the sensations for a couple of seconds before his brain aligned again. “Whaaat?” And oh, god, he sounded like a teenage girl! “No, no no no! No way I'm...” Steve retreated his hand until it was barely brushing the fabric. Tony almost cried out at the loss but bit his lip to cut the sound off. No way he was moaning after so little! He did buck his hips forward, though, but Steve moved his hand along with it, and Tony found himself deprived from the contact from behind and still barely teased on front.

Steve hummed, as if lost in thoughts, and Tony had the premonition he would regret giving Steve the all-clear in this play. He was right. “You sure? You really don't want that? I am sure you'd look amazing. You kind of want it, don't you?” Oh god, he had just created a monster. And the worse was that he was actually kind of wanting it, now. He closed his eyes and tipped his head back over Steve's shoulder, sobbing up a breath. Apparently understanding he just won, Steve pushed his hand back against Tony's now leaking erection, and pushed him back until he was sandwiched between Steve's hand and cock again. “You know, we should address this safeword thing. You could also have been serious, just now. I am not entirely confident I will make the difference next time.”

God, that was unfair! Tony was there, losing track of his sanity, whining under his breath, and seemingly doomed to make a mess of his clothes, and Steve's voice was steady as ever, all velvety and gentle and a concerned undertone to it. “I hate you!”

Steve stopped his ministrations completely, and Tony had an instant of panic, fearing he would take him seriously and actually drop the matter. Instead, Steve looked up, his head tipping back a little as he seemingly thought Tony's words out. “Nope, it wouldn't make a good safeword. If my memories of yesterday are anything to go by, I should be able to make you proclaim your hate, love, annoyance and doubts toward my intelligence to me a good ten times before we are finished with this. Any other suggestion?”

Oh god, he was soo screwed. Well, not yet. It would come, for sure, but Steve seemed determined to keep things at a heavy petting level until Tony crossed the edge. And Steve. He was nothing like a virgin. He was either a natural or a very fast learner, to think he was clueless about this not ten minutes earlier.

Steve gently blew against Tony's cheek, and his hand sliding a bit lower, so he had the heel pressing Tony's balls while his fingers reached back towards his asshole. Tony gasped and panted, unable to align two coherent thoughts. “Really? Nothing?” Damned tease!

“What about 'Stop this right now'?” Tony refrained to add any insult to it, because a safeword wasn't about being mean, it as about setting a limit.

Steve hummed under his breath. “Yes, that one sounds better, I don't think either of us can confuse this message. Thank you.” Tony almost asked why, but he had already gone sub-vocal, and Steve was now steadily pressing up and down his groin, and god, this wasn't supposed to be that overpowering. “Feel close, yet?”

“Nnhhhyeah. Just. Mmmaah just...” Yeah, sub-vocal, for sure. Steve, heartless tease as he was, stopped moving and pressing, seemingly interested in his answer.

“Just what?”

“Just open those damn pants, please, it hurts.”

“But you like it, don't you?” Aargh damn him to hell. And this low, husky voice was cheat, fucking cheater! Tony realized a little too late that he was whining and that it could definitely be interpreted as a yes. If he had been in Steve's place, he would have taken it as a go ahead. “See?” Satisfied, Steve resumed to his previous movement over the fabric.

“Buuut...” wow, that sounded like a five years old being denied candies.

Steve probably thinking the same, because when he answered, his voice was inflexible and firm. “No buts. You said anything I want. I want to see how you look fucked out with sticky underwear, so you will.” Captain voice was cheat too, damn it. Was Steve even able to not push on Tony's buttons?

“Ahaahhh! al... Damn! Already sticky, Cap!”

Steve laughed, and that was so damn hot. “Good.” He didn't say anything more, just stuck his tongue in Tony's ear instead.

“Aaaah!” Tony heard himself losing it, felt the orgasm build up in his belly, but he still couldn't come. The pants were too tight, he didn't actually have friction in there, and no way to get more.

Steve probably felt him tense up, because he moved, sucking his tongue back in and shoving his shoulders forward, while the hand that wasn't massaging Tony's erection came up, raising Tony's arms until it locked , sending a little wave of pain up his shoulders and sending him on the edge. Just... A... Bit... More!

Steve then pushed his hips forward, shoving Tony's head straight into the cushion, and squeezed Tony's dick again. That was it. Tony came with a high pitched shout. Steve rocked back and forth, his front slamming into Tony's ass until the tremors stopped and Tony felt the orgasm subside into afterglow.

When he relaxed, Steve removed his hand from Tony's groin, to his relief. He was feeling oversensitive, and the sticky silk of his underwear was already almost too much. Steve eased Tony's arms downwards, then grabbed each in a separate hand and lowered them until they were laying on the seat's cushions. Tony was conscious he must look something between a snail and a slut, his butt stuck up and his face and shoulders mashed in the seat while his arms rested besides his knees, but he didn't have the energy to move.

Steve must really be a psychic, because just after he was done with Tony's arms, he stepped down from the sofa and grabbed his chest, heaving him upright, then easing him backwards until Tony was resting on his back, knees bent up to avoid tensing his pants against his sensitive cock.

“You alright?” If it had been courtesy, Tony would have ignored him, but Steve sounded like he genuinely wanted an answer. Tony almost said no, just to get a revenge and see how he would react, but he was fairly certain Steve would apologize and not touch Tony again.

“Hate you, stupid idiot.” He sounded wrecked, and his tone was that of a belligerent sulking children.

Steve smiled broadly. “Love you too.” Ooohkay, were did that even come from? Tony felt a pout settle across his features. He also saw Steve inching closer. It was stronger than him, he parted his lips as Steve's touched them and sucked on his tongue as soon as Steve darted it in. The kiss was long, messy and dirty, full of suckling sounds and little bites from Tony. Also full of swallowing sounds because Steve visibly hadn't got the thing to avoid salivating yet. Tony would normally have been disgusted and had launched into a heated lecture of the fine art of kissing, but he was too fucked out for that. He would keep the lesson for later.

Another thing Steve would need to upgrade to become a descent kisser was the ability to breath through the nose. As things stood, he visibly kissed in apnea. He held out longer than a normal human should, but he still had to come out and suck a shuddering breath. He looked thoroughly breathless and dazed when he sat back, so Tony forgave his poor technique, he always liked it when people fed his ego.

As for that, Steve had probably understood, because he skimmed his eyes over Tony's face, naked chest and damp pants and sighed a quiet “beautiful”, while swiping his index over his lips. Tony nipped the finger and sucked it in, moaning shamelessly.

Steve raised his brows, blushing a bit, but smiled at him. “Better?”

Tony raised his eyebrows and smirked around Steve's finger. He left go, opening his mouth and sticking his tongue out as Steve withdrew his hand. “Guess so. Remind me to teach you how to kiss sometime I'm not on my back.”

Steve blinked twice, but chuckled, folding forward. “I'll hold onto that promise. Tell me when you feel like moving again.” And just like that, Steve stood up. Tony's eyes locked on the very visible Bonner that Steve was sporting, understanding he had probably been about as hard as Tony all along the make-out session. He had to be uncomfortable and horny as hell, but he hadn't pushed one bit. And now he was picking the ice-cream pint from the table, making a disgusted face at what was probably vanilla cold syrup by now.

Seemingly not one bit concerned about his state of arousal, he strolled to the bar and poured the liquid in the sink. Tony's mind immediately made up a pun about vanilla going down the drain, but he didn't say it, instead he choose to just tease. “What a waste. If it was to do that with it, you could have let me use it as a lube...” Steve leveled him an unimpressed glance, but there was a bit of a smile hanging at the corner of his lips as he shook his head and trashed the container.

“If you are well enough strength to say such stupid things, why don't you move it to the bedroom?”

“Why? I like it here on the sofa.”

“Because this is where the lube is, and if you want me to keep things at a level where the pain is just a background spice, I will definitely need some.” Tony tried to convince himself he wasn't stiffening back just from this mildly dirty sentence (he could always be in denial, it was his right).

“Is that arrogance I hear?”

“That sounds so rich coming from you” (Okay, he had a point) “and no, actually, you told me just about those exact words yesterday night.” (God, how long would he hear about that night?) “Between a compliment to Erskine formulas and an explanation of where the prostate was, followed by an impromptu lesson on how to finger people open.” (Well, okay, for a while, then...) Steve was smiling, so it probably hadn't been one of his worse lectures, though. He actually seemed amused by it.

“You can call me teacher.”

“Isn't Dr Stark better? You have a PhD, don't you?”

“I have three PhDs and seriously, lay the Stark off, it is way too weird, especially coming from you, I am not my father.”

“Ah. Okay. Said like that, I can't say anything.” Steve crouched near Tony's head. “feeling up to moving?”

“Nope, I am staying here. If you want that lube, you can just bring it over.” Steve sighed, but his eyes stayed soft.

“Spoiled, aren't you?” But instead of turning around, he slipped his arms under Tony's arms and knees and lifted him off the couch. “Bedroom, it is.”

“Wha? Bridal carry, seriously?” Tony really tried to look offended and disbelieving. It didn't work.

“We are still more or less in the honeymoon period, so I don't see why not.” Tony felt his eyes open wide, he had almost forgotten that. He soon recovered his unflappable composure, though, and wrapped his arms around his 'husband''s neck. Steve smiled, turning his head to face him, and Tony just had to kiss him, he was so cute when he smiled.

Steve let his head be pulled down, and eased in the kiss passively, waiting for Tony to lead, and responding to the solicitations and leaving total control of everything to Tony. This, added to the fact he was actually being carried to the bedroom (not anymore, though, Steve had stopped moving and braced his feet when Tony had started to up his game... probably to avoid walking into a wall), was incredibly hot, and Tony was half-hard again.

When Steve pulled up for breath, Tony smiled slyly. “Consider that the first lesson. Second is that you have a nose, why not use it?” Steve blinked twice, adjusted his hold and resumed his march.

“Noted, I'll see how I can make use of that Intel, Ironman.” Oh god! But how did he even manage to say such things?

Steve reached the bed and carefully laid Tony down, then he pressed one knee on the mattress and bent down to undo Tony's fly and pull his bottoms off.

Tony half wanted to be embarrassed at the mess he was down here, and he half wanted to stay completely impassible because this was totally Steve's fault. Turned out he didn't need to choose, as Steve reached for his cock without hesitation with a soft, proud smile pulling his lips and crinkling his eyes. Turns out Tony isn't the only one who knows to be smug at his own sexual prowess.

Steve reached for the bedside table and pulled out the lube, then he posed and looked at Tony square in the eye. “What do you want to do now? If you want to pick up from earlier, I'm game, but I recall you saying it is unfair only I get to fuck yo- Omph.” Tony only realized how he'd just tackled Steve in the mattress after actually doing it, but there was no way he'd pass that opportunity up. “Nice to see you so enthusiastic, I was starting to believe you lost interest at round one...”

“I just suddenly felt like invading America.” Steve raised his brows at the tacky pun, but his grimace looked suspiciously like a smile. “Or maybe I'll see if I can return the favor and have you coming in your pants too, what do you say?”

“You can always try, you'll just have to wait a couple of minutes to start round three if you actually manage it.”

“A... a couple of minutes? … Well, isn't that handy? I'll have to check how long you can go like that. You know, Science and everything...” Steve snorted, but he didn't object.


	7. Close call

Steve looked up. There was no mistaking the lust in Tony's eyes. Something inside him eased up. He could do this, if his partner looked at him like that.

Tony was incredibly attracting, and, there was no denying it, at this point, he did like him. He liked Tony like he used to like Peggy.

Probably for the same reasons. He was fierce and intelligent. Contrary to what Steve had first thought, Tony was also incredibly honest and good, and he knew to make the right choices.

Steve knew respect could turn into love. It even was the strongest basis of a good relationship. He had respected Tony since New-York. He had seen that change into love in a mere couple of days. It was unsettling by it's speed, but not uncalled for.

Now was not the time to dwell in it, though. He was in a dark room, only lit by the ray of indirect sunshine streaming through the door from the suite's living room, with Tony, naked, towering over him, looking, for all intents and purposes like a a predator in front of it's prey.

And that was what Steve needed to let himself accept what was on the verge of happening. Kissing hadn't been a problem, because he genuinely liked Tony. What they had done on the sofa hadn't been a problem either, because in the end, he had been a spectator of sorts. The idea was his and he had done everything, but it was still basically Tony's pleasure that had been at stakes.

He had enjoyed every second of it, of course. Every sound Tony had made, every word or moan, even the way he had panted. He had reveled in the feel of Tony's skin on his chest, and of his tiny movements. Just, in the end it had all been about Tony, about giving him something he wanted (even if he had denied it, Steve knew it was something Tony had wanted). Their relation had been irrelevant, and it hardly counted as sex in Steve's opinion, because Steve had only been giving out, Tony hadn't done anything in return.

Now, it was reversed, and, as Steve had always known, it was easier to give out than to receive. Steve knew he would have been uneasy to have Tony touching him casually, or just to return a favor. Thankfully, it wasn't the case. Tony looked like he was really looking forward to whatever he wanted to do, and it permitted Steve to relax into it and accept without a second thought. He didn't have to feel guilty at all, he loved his partner and is partner wanted him, everything was alright (well, aside from the fact Tony only seemed to want sex, not a relationship, but Steve would deal with the fall outs of that later).

Smiling, Steve tensed his abdominal muscles, he rose himself without help from his arms, and landed a kiss on Tony's lips. He stroked lightly at his shoulders and upper arms, bit lightly, then flopped back down, letting his arms fall too, upwards, just outside of Tony's own forearms that he was using to hold his weigh up. “I am hearing a lot, but not feeling anything, here. Don't think you'll get your revenge by laying around, Ironman.”

Tony started a bit (nothing Steve would have noticed without his enhanced senses), and Steve felt something press against him in the hips area. He didn't really know what made Tony react to his codename or Steve's field voice that way, but he certainly felt it, and Steve was decided to make Tony feel as much as he could. He would use anything he could find to compensate for his lack of experience.

After half a second's pause, Tony smirked and leered an answer. “You will so regret that sentence, Cap.”

That was too easy. And too tempting. “Make me!” And to punctuate the taunt, Steve raised his right hip, rubbing the jeans covered bone on Tony's erection.

It worked. In less time than it'd take to say it, Tony was latching his mouth into the center of Steve's collarbone, at the base of his throat, inserting his knee between Steve's tights, and feeling his way up Steve's side. Even with his total lack of practice, Steve recognized a well rehearsed technique in his every move. Each touch was directed, pointed, and landed squarely on a sensitive spot.

In close to no-time, Steve found himself opening his legs up to allow Tony's knees easier access to his ass, arching his back into Tony's fingers ghosting at his side, and throwing his head back to leave room along his neck.

Tony chuckled by the nose, and the gust of wind down Steve's neck tickled, raising goosebumps all over his body. Tony nipped the skin under his mouth, harshly sucking on it, his beard scratching at Steve's collarbone. At the same time, he pushed his knee further up, pressing Steve's inseam. And the fingertips continued ghosting upon his skin, barely even touching. Steve felt his brain shut down. He heard parcel of sounds color his breath.

Tony slid down, trailing his tongue in the crease between Steve's pectorals, his knee didn't move, but the fingertips trailed down to the line of Steve's hips, tracing the curve of the muscles here. The touch so light it should have been ticklish, but it only felt hot, like Tony was somehow flipping on a fire under his skin.

Steve felt the wet tongue dip in the hollow just under his sternum, the hands tease the edge of his waistband. He heard himself grunt and choke and on his breath intake, felt the pleasure burning bright, he knew he was arching even further up, felt his arms tense, and registered skin under his fingers.

Tony continued sliding down, his knee pushing up, again, just a bit, but the reminder of it's presence sent a shock up Steve's spine, and he felt himself jolt up. He moaned, and as if on cue, Tony's hands move, one grasping at his hip, the strong grasp sending pinpricks of pleasure. The other hand then landed on his groin, and Steve lost what was left of his contact with the world, other than the hot sensation everywhere Tony touched him.

Tony was halfway down his abs, and he knew he was shifting, arching just where Tony's tongue was resting, but he didn't take much notice to it, because the hand on his cock was now tracing circles, so light he almost didn't feel it, but it was even powerful that way, and Steve knew he wouldn't last, not when he had been aroused for a good half of an hour and was driven that way.

It didn't bother him, he had no qualms with just letting go there and then.

The wet trail of Tony's tongue was reaching down to the waistband of Steve's pants, and he was losing track of his mind. He tensed, the warmth building up around his balls.

He knew he was balancing on the edge, he trusted his hips up, by pure instinct, trying to get the increase of sensation that would make the difference. Tony's fingers did press a bit, but it was still far from enough.

Tony waited for Steve to stabilize, then sucked a hickey on the tender skin of his underbelly. Steve whimpered, that was almost it, almost...

Tony's lips left his skin, and he cried out. A part of his brain was wondering just how he looked from the outside, all but on Tony's lap, arched upward at the waist, keening, with one hand resting on Tony's shoulder and the other by his neck. That same part concluded that he didn't care, and that if he was anything like Tony, it looked hot anyway. The rest of his brain was a mush of need and intertwined pleas to let him come, that he may or may not be muttering under his breath, he seriously wasn't able to keep track of what was passing his lips.

Steve was on the edge of madness, sucking tiny gasps at a time, but still unable to find his realize, when Tony's mouth landed on his jean's covered dick. The warm, damp breath his improved senses allowed him to feel through the fabric and the hint of teeth sent a brand new heat wave in his body. He came with a subdued groan, while Tony's hands were skimming up his chest.

When the waves of pleasure from his orgasm subdued to a dull pulse under his skin, he left his muscles loosen-up to rest back down. Even in this state of blessed half-consciousness, he remembered to lower himself gradually so he wouldn't accidentally crush Tony if he still had anything under him. That turned out to be a good thing, because Tony really was still under him.

Once he laid out relaxed with his lower-body on Tony's lap, Steve allowed himself a couple of minutes to just relax and enjoy the looseness and exhaustion he didn't often feel since the serum. He was conscious Tony was fiddling with his jean's buttons and zipper, but didn't give it much thoughts, except a relieved sigh when the tension over his groin reduced.

When Tony tried to tug the trousers off, Steve yanked him forth and trapped him into his arms, forcing him to a bit of downtime too.

Steve knew Tony wasn't one to comply easily and he also knew he wasn't patient either. Steve still groaned when hands started to wander anywhere his skin was exposed. He should have seen that coming. “Damn you! Can't you stay put for two minutes? I told you there'd be a refractory time, right? Let me enjoy the moment.”

Tony seemed utterly unfazed by the rebuke, continuing to stroke any bit of skin accessible, so Steve decided to go for plan B and just trap his hands again. It proved to be a bad idea, as Tony instantly arched in, his whole chest sliding over Steve's, and there wasn't any thought left in his brain for a quiet afterglow, just lust and enthusiasm to start with round 3.

He was extending his hand toward the lube bottle that should have been somewhere to his right when chime rang somewhere in the room.

Steve's brain connected back to it's usual awareness and efficiency and set to analyzing everything. First, he remembered the cloth delivery had a time limit toward the maximum, but no minimum, and panicked a bit over how to go get it without making the poor delivery boy either deadly embarrassed or wait for him. Then, he recognized the chime tone as his default phone ring-tone (he heard you could have it make a different one for people in your repertory, but he hadn't bothered to learn this, the number got shown on the screen, anyway).

Tony didn't seem to have reconnected normally (but on the other hand, he hadn't come a minute earlier), he grumbled and clung to Steve when he got pushed back, but Steve still managed to get to his backpack and dig his phone out before it stopped to ring (good thing he had a perfect memory, he didn't need to search the whole bag for his phone).

_“Hey,Captain! Sorry to disrupt your honeymoon, but something came up.”_

“Sam? How'd you? TV, right, nevermind. What happened?”

“Sex happened! Why don't you bring your ass back here so it can happen again?” Steve blushed a bit. Trust Tony to make this kind of shameless statement loud enough to be heard on the other end of a phone call when he doesn't even know the other party.

Sam hesitated as Steve shot a glare at the genius _“Is this a bad time?”_

It was there again, the anxious tone, that bordered more on scared than embarrassed. “Probably not as bad as what you called to tell me. What is it, Sam?”

Something in his voice must have tipped Tony off, because he stepped up from the bed and stole the phone from Steve's hand, putting the loudspeakers on just in time to catch the end of the answer.

 _“... guy you didn't want to kill?”_ Tony arched an eyebrow at him but didn't comment.

“Bucky? What about him?” Steve would have expected Tony to get pissed at him for caring about someone else, but he seemed to take it pretty well, pulling Steve on the bed and perching besides him to listen intently.

_“Not sure if it makes sense, but he apparently spotted us while we were searching for him... You... Huh, you know how we were searching together? How we are not together anymore?”_

Steve frowned that was awfully vague, vague was not a good sign. Vague was a bad sign when used by a soldier. “What happened to you, while I was out, Sam?”

_“Did anyone ever tell you that you are not easily approachable?I thought I was too, but not as much as you, it seems...”_

Steve frowned, looked at Tony, Tony frowned back. “What the hell are you in right now? Is it my fault? Do you require help?”

 _“It is not a life or death situation, you don't have to come.”_ And Steve didn't miss how he stressed the have, or how he still seemed rather distressed. _“I mean you just got married, and all... I thought you'd invite me...”_

“Yeah, we just got married, what about you give us a status report so we can decide if we come and help you or if we ignore your plea and go back to fucking? I am getting tired of waiting here.”

“Tony!” Steve was blushing, he definitely was. “Sorry about that! I didn't plan to end up married, I'd definitely have dragged you along to be my best man if I had.”

“Hey! No! Best man is Rhodey, you get to chose the bridesmaid if you want...”

“Riiight! Status?”

_“He is here. I mean, he is in my kitchen, emptying the closets and looking like he could kill me if I startle him.”_

“Wait... Why?”

_“From what I gathered, he found evidences that you were telling the truth, saw us search for him together, and decided to approach me when you weren't around. Whether it is because he isn't up to meeting you face to face yet or because he thought he could overpower me more easily if we wanted to kill him is up to debate, but he wants to see you, apparently.”_

Steve blinked, whoa, he hadn't quite expected that one. “Did he ask to see me?”

The voice on the phone seemed uncertain. _“He might have if I hadn't decided to turn on the TV at lunch. As things stand, he watched the whole info-clip about your marriage wide eyed, then more or less tried to flee. I managed to stop him by offering him shelter and food.”_

Steve sighed, relieved and grateful to Sam. “Okay. Can he hear you on the phone? Does he know you are calling me? You made sure he isn't thinking you're calling the police, right?”

_“'f course I did. I tried to offer him to talk to you directly, but he didn't seem too sure, so I dropped the matter. And yeah, I am within earshot, but not close enough so he can hear your side, he seems to need more time before he listen to your voice.”_

Steve smiled and glanced at Tony, who was fiddling with his own phone (he kind of wondered what magic he's pull out of it this time). “Okay... Do you want me to come back? Does he want me to come back?”

“We can be there in five hours if necessary, less if there is an emergency.”

 _“Ah, I'll ask.”_ Sam's voice grew weaker. _“Steve says he can be here in five hours. D'you want him to?”_

Because his ears were super sensitives, he heard parts of the answer. _“...bother... married... wait... no hurry...”_

Tony must have heard too, because he piped up. “Tell him we have a bed in the jet, we won't be 'loosing' any time.”

“Tony...”

“What?”

_“Huh... Right. His new husband says it's no bother, so it's really on you. If you don't want, though it's no problem either, you can stay here and they'll come later.”_

It still sounded obvious that Buck didn't want to impose on Steve, and that was breaking Steve's heart.

“Sam? Can you tell the idiot that when I said I'd always be there for him I meant it? And that if he can't manage to say 'no I can wait a couple of day here in Sam's house, that won't be a bother, seriously, look at this game center' while meaning it, I'll come right now? Seriously, I mean it. I'll steal Tony's suit and I can probably be there before dinner.”

Sam repeated Steve's words more or less exactly, Tony 'hey'ed and poked Steve in the arm, but Steve ignored it.

Steve felt he would need to make a notebook for the things Tony reacted badly to... Being ignored him seemed to be amongst them. If he ever actually made this notebook, Steve could as well add a chapter on the thing Tony didn't bother with, and keeping his hands to himself while Steve was on the phone would rate amongst the items of that list.

Steve was batting Tony's hands away from his zip-fly as Bucky's answer trailed out of the phone. Sam must have gotten closer to him because the sound was whisper levels of quiet, but still perfectly intelligible for both Steve and Tony. _“There are limits for those kinds of 'I'll always be there' promises... Honeymoons would be considered normal deal-breakers, wouldn't they?”_

Steve noticed how Bucky didn't address the 'just tell us you'll be fine' side of Steve message, and that was both a bad new, because it meant he didn't think he would, and a good one, because he didn't feel obligated to lie to cover himself. Actually, the fact that Buck wasn't lying was a very good thing. It probably meant the Winter Soldier was losing it's grasp over Bucky's psyche.

Steve had no time to give another message to Sam, because Tony stole his phone from him once again, typed on it for a couple of seconds, and brought it to his ear. “Stop right there, sweetheart, there is no honeymoon scheduled for us. If you don't want us to mess our plans, then we have a TV interview at 6 on the tenth channel, and we should go to the courthouse shortly afterward, so we'll be here tomorrow morning. Seriously, I winged more important, and more formal appointments, so we could as well depart in ten minutes and I'll work a way to still fullfill my promises, I am a genius after all.”

There was a pause, and Steve didn't manage to catch what was being said, but it made Tony smile. “Of course I can activate loudspeakers remotely! Were you not listening when I said I was a genius?” Another pause, a snicker, “that's what she said.” (Steve was fairly sure that was a sexual joke) “Now, seriously, what do YOU want?”

Tony stayed glued to the phone for a couple of minutes, making 'mhmh's and 'yeah's and asking the occasional precision, then he recapped, probably for Steve “So tomorrow at noon none of us carrying weapons? Perfect. I just have to let you know that my armor will be close by, I can't let myself be too exposed. Side effects of being who I am. Good? Good.”

Tony lowered the phone fiddled with it again, then handed it over to Steve. “You can say bye to your friend Sam, I hear hanging up on people's noses is rude.”

“Hey Sam?”

_“Whut? The speakers went off?... Anyway, wow! How do you even manage to score someone like that?”_

Steve made a face. “You make them drink until they lose their senses.”

_“Ah... That... Does it mean I should offer you my sincerest condolences?”_

Steve sighed. “Forget it, it could be worse, at least we are likely to keep a normal relationship when everything is settled.”

 _“You know that could be ground to offer condolences, don't you?”_ Steve pinched his lips, but didn't answer that. Mainly because Tony was still on the bed and because he didn't want to lie.

“Well, see you tomorrow, then. Good luck.” He ended the call on Sam's reassurances, and turned to see Tony waving the lube bottle suggestively, a wide grin plastered on his face.

Steve sighed, but he really wasn't kidding himself, he was happy Tony still wanted to sleep with him, rather than ask details on everything else.

Steve was wrong, Tony did want to ask questions. It just appeared he had no qualms with asking those while lubing Steve up.


	8. Oral test

“And that's when you called me for this trip in Las Vegas.” Steve concluded. He squirmed a bit, his hips moving erratically, the ring of his asshole sliding a little higher over Tony's fingers. Tony absentmindedly thrust in and crooked the three fingers he slipped in during his interrogation, making Steve gasp and arch right off the bed.

Those reactions were so sexy, and Tony found himself lightly kissing the soft skin under his mouth. How could someone so strong have such a baby skin? Tony teased Steve's lowers abs for a couple of minutes, while Steve was dissolving into an incoherent mess from Tony's finger's minute moves inside him.

Tony considered the implications of Steve's revelations. Of Hydra infiltrating SHIELD, of Steve's BFF being conditioned into an assassin, of his own father having been assassinated, of an awesome winged gear that he might get to see the remains of tomorrow, of Steve searching for his BFF assassin all over the USA for three months and getting a phone call letting him know that it is said assassin that finally broke the standstill.

He had already thought hard and long of SHIELD fall-down. He'd considered reaching out to Natasha after her hearing, but he still didn't trust her wholly, and anyway, she was unreachable. Steve's new information were putting the whole thing in a more direct light, and Tony congratulated himself for being able to pry such a complete report from the usually tight lipped soldier.

It wasn't that Steve was actively hiding things, he just tended to casually withhold bits here and there. Tony had done a bit of research on it, when it had became obvious that he might fight alongside Captain America again in the future, and had discovered that Steve was the kind that tended to think he should just take everything in his own hands. It made him a very good team leader, but a lousy informant. Just the day that had passed was example enough. Steve hadn't said one bit of information more than necessary, and only gave further Intel when prompted. And even there, he was far from complete disclosure.

Not that Tony was way better on that front, but he knew very well that two allies withholding information made the situations twice as easy to go to hell because they missed to notice something regular, chalking it up to hazard when there was a pattern. Tony knew he should be equally honest, but honesty really wasn't his thing, just like conventions or politeness... And anyway, Steve wasn't weary enough, if there was one of them that could draw accurate conclusions out of this data, it was Tony. And Jarvis...

A whine distracted him from his thoughts, and he looked up, only seeing the underside of the supersoldier's chin over the shapely naked muscles of his torso. That was a lovely view. Smirking, Tony twisted the fingers he still had inside Steve around, and licked a stripe across his underbelly. Steve flailed and moaned, and his erection poked Tony in the cheek. Tony reached for it with his free hand, and relished in the jump it prompted in his partner.

“Steve?” Steve made a throaty sound that probably meant he'd heard Tony. “What do you think of a blow-job?” Tony asked, letting his lips ghost over the tip of Steve's cock to illustrate his point.

“A blow... Tony?!” Those reactions were so delicious. Tony toyed with the notion of stilling and waiting for a real answer, but decided against it. Steve seemed to have a problem with oral sex, so he might say no, and now that Tony had considered it, he really wanted to get his mouth on the goods, to see Steve come undone under his tongue, to taste his realize and know he is the only responsible for it.

“Yeah. Like that...” Tony lowered his head, not giving Steve time to react. He hadn't actually given any blow-jobs before, but he was a genius, and he'd received plenty, so it wasn't hard to reproduce the motions he'd found the most effective on himself. Deep-throat wasn't an option, as good as it usually felt, it demanded practice, and he had had girls chocking, gagging, or almost throwing up (with one who hadn't been able to hold back, and really puked), on his dick because of their excess of zeal, and it hadn't felt quite as good as those that had respected their boundaries and used alternate techniques. He didn't want to kill the mood by aiming too high, so he selected something that seemed more beginner-friendly and went on with it.

Steve gasped when Tony settled his mouth on the base of his cock. Tony could really get addicted to this responsiveness.

Tony found himself drawn in his job almost immediately, what with Steve moaning and gasping and arching at the slightest solicitation. He alternated sucking harshly along the shaft, licking stripes on the whole length, and sucking on the head, giving the occasional thrust or spin with the hand still inside Steve.

When he stopped moving, Steve whined and that was the most beautiful sound he ever heard, so wrapped his lips around Steve's cock and pushed his head down until he started to cough, but the deep groan and unconscious hips thrust it prompted made it all worth the few tears that leaked from his eyes reflexively.

And then he pulled back up, letting his lips apart just so no contact was possible anymore, but his hot, humid breath still brushed Steve's sensitive skin. Steve whined again, longer, and when he stopped, Tony repeated the maneuver again.

Hands grasped his hair when he came up for the third time, still teasing, and he felt heat shoot straight to his crotch as Steve slammed his head back down, apparently fed up with Tony's game.

He felt tear well up in his eyes as the tip of Steve's cock bumped on the back of his throat, and he coughed reflexively. Some part of his brain felt smug for driving the straight-laced Captain America so far that he'd just do something so extreme. Probably the part that wasn't worrying if he'd throw up.

He tried to pull back up, but Steve was too strong, and too far gone to notice Tony's hardship, after all, the difference in strength was so great that Tony's best effort probably didn't register all that much to him.

His throat and tongue were spasming when Steve let his hands back up, and Tony came up with it, swallowing the excess of saliva and desperately gasping for breath. He didn't have much time for it, as Steve pushed his head back down almost immediately.

'Face-fucking', his mind provided as Steve set a rhythm Tony tried his best to conform to. Steve would probably let him go once he came, and that was becoming urgent with the way his stomach was acting up. He purposefully pressed on the prostate, and used the slackened hold to yank the control back, setting the rhythm to a quicker pace that justified the swallower thrusts, sucking as he bobbed up for good measure. Then he placed his other hand the base of Steve's dick and squeezed a bit, before turning around it and down to toy with his balls.

In less than a minute, he got yanked up by the hair as Steve shooted sperm all over his face. He couldn't find it in himself to be annoyed or disgusted, so he just licked his lips and the corners of his mouth clean and let his head fall down on the joint between Steve's thigh and hip, tucking his nose on the inseam while he regained his breath and composure.

It didn't take him all that long to come down, his erection still fully here, pulsing hot and leaking on the sheets. He really wanted to get to the main part, now, even if he knew he should give Steve some time to come back around before diving for it... What could he say? Patience never was his strong point.

He was about to straighten up and align himself when he caught a whiff of... Strawberry? And all of a sudden he found a reason to wait a couple of minutes longer.

He wondered if Steve even had an idea as to why the lube was flavored. Well, he was smart, he'd get it with just a few licks.


	9. Lost footing

To be honest, everything was kind of blurry in Steve's mind. He was coming down, chasing his breath, his head was coming up to half it's usual speed. Enough to tell him he should probably be ashamed of what just happened, and he should apologize to Tony, because he was pretty sure grabbing his head the way he did was rude.

Before he could even start to form words, though, the thought flew right out of his mind, because Tony was withdrawing his fingers, and that sent new sparks up his spine. It wasn't anything compared to the feel of something hot and wet coming to replace them, though.

It took him an embarrassingly long time (and the feel of a nose against his balls) to process the fact that Tony was actually putting his mouth on his hole and shoving his tongue in.

He didn't manage to feel properly surprised, disgusted, aroused or awed by the fact. He couldn't even feel annoyed at Tony for not giving him any time again.

He just relaxed into the touches and let his common senses run away from him again.

A pair of minutes (or hours, he honestly couldn't tell) later, Tony came up, and smirked upon seeing Steve fully hard again.

Steve didn't really know what to expect before Tony had started fingering him. After that, it had seemed like a very good idea to be on the receiving end of anal sex. When Tony actually grabbed his knees to spread him open wider, then drove his cock in him, Steve had still been surprised by how good it felt.

Maybe it was because it was Tony, or because his lips were so red and his eyes so black. Maybe he was also aroused by the bit of pain the stretch of his muscles was causing.

Steve didn't even think before he pulled Tony's head to him and kissed him. He tasted like strawberry. Withdrawing, he noticed the white sticky sperm caught in Tony's beard. The sound he heard leaving his lips would have had it's place in a porn movie.

Steve lost it when Tony actually started moving, and he was only able to groan and moan, writhing, trying to get the right angle so each thrust hit that spot that had him see stars.

He would probably have said the time it took him to come again was embarrassingly short, if he still had his head about him. As things stood, he just felt the pleasure overwhelm him,. He noticed Tony stuttering, cursing, and speeding up, but it was just a dull fact in face of his orgasm. Just when he finished and felt his muscles turn into an inert mass, Tony collapsed on top of him.

Steve felt Tony tense a bit, but brought his arms up and pushed him back down. For once, Tony didn't act contrary and melted down against Steve. It was a nice feeling.

They stayed there for a while, just breathing.

Steve found his hand moving up to pet Tony's hair. Tony huffed a bit and grumbled something, but he didn't sound overly adverse, so Steve didn't mind it too much.

It was some time before Tony grew restless and Steve had to abandon the prospect of bumming about to get showered.


	10. Running late

Tony motioned Steve over to the car, observing as he slid in and reclined in the seat. The starred T-shirt was a good look on him, and Tony had to admit the delivery boy arriving at a moment when he and Steve were both descent and with no evidence of the fact they showered together was pretty lucky. Not that Tony minded much, seeing his public image, but he figured Steve would.

Steve, who wouldn't look Tony in the face and wore a dazed expression since the shower.

Well, Tony understood. A bit. Giving Steve a hand-job without reason was surprising to him too, but he had always been one to do whatever he wanted. And hearing Steve loosing it once more, this was something he really wanted, even now that they were both dressed and in the way to announce the world they weren't in love.

Once again, the treacherous voice in his head piped up, telling him he wouldn't mind staying married a bit longer, especially if he got such great sex and a bit of rest.

Tony squeezed his eyes shut. It wasn't about him, well, not only about him. There was Steve, who had no reason to be burdened with him. There was Pepper, that he'd split up with less than a week ago. There were all the issues that led to said break-up, that hadn't just disappeared... What would he do, if he let himself get attached and Steve caught on on them? What would he do, when Steve either started to hate his guts, or avoid the issue like Pepper had?

Tony was not made to be in relationships. Not dating, so what chance did he have to go through with an honest to god (or maybe not, he'd have to ask Steve. Or not... Well, whether or not they went through the church thing was not important anyway) marriage?

None.

Now he just had to forget his stupid delusions and hold the fort. Go make his appearance at the TV studio, sign a couple of papers, fly Steve to his BFF, and go bury himself in work until this whole story felt less tangible. He could tinker his armor... Or make a backup one. A backup armor was a good idea, as solid as he tried to design them, they needed hours of maintenance and repair after each fight, and he may not always have those.

He had to up the security around those, though. Rhodey was a thing, and he thankfully hadn't let any power-hungry higher-ups of his put their grubby paws on his tech (other than to spray this Captain-America-like paint-job on it). The more important was to secure the arc-reactor. He couldn't risk anyone reverse engineer it. As Stane had proved, it was the most tricky part. It was the most dangerous.

He let his mind draft up, then discard, a whole array of measures to keep his own armors from becoming his worst enemies. The initial state of his projects was like that, flashes of possibilities, and he had long since stopped trying to reign those in. His lack of discipline (at least at that one stage) was what made him stick out from the lot. He didn't let himself be ensnared by physics or customs, he just let his imagination run away.

Soon, he would have a vague idea, the seed of a project, and he would need to make up plans, tweak them, confront them to reality... He was already relishing on the thrill of engineering, looking forward to each test, each fail, each known law of physic he could possibly prove wrong.

So what if he still heard echoes of Steve's pants in his ears? It was nothing the clatter of a hammer, the whir of his repulsors or some good old Rock n' Roll couldn't drown out. And if this didn't work, he could just masturbate to his memories and/or fantasies until he got bored with the prospect.

Give it two months. Maybe three, and he'd be back to his old self. Back to his confidence, back to his insufferable habits. Just you watch, Pepper, I'll get back up, you'll have to do the same, that was the promise...

His eyes began to prickle. Pepper.

This wasn't the good thing to be thinking. Not when he was ten minutes away from an interview. He had to show his public facade. Crying was not allowed. He'd cry later (or never, really) on the drama that was his love-life.

Maybe he should go and chase the weapons Stane had smuggled to terrorists? He was sure there were still some to be found. Adrenaline, fight and flight, what was better to forget his girlfriend? (And sort of husband?) Ah, yes, engineering. Maybe he could make a self-repairing suit? It would spare him from using up forty-something armors in one single fight. But there would be drawbacks, like-

“Tony?” Tony held up a hand, chasing the tails of a vanishing idea. “Tony, we're here!”

Tony looked up, and saw they were indeed at the TV-station's main entrance, Paparazzo massed on the curb like a pack of hyenas, already screaming and shoving at each other to get the first bite out of them. Tony sighed and looked at Steve hopefully. “If we wait one minute, they may already have killed each-others, and we'll be able to get through without the fucking ruckus.”

“Good idea, except we're already short on time. I'll protect you, if you want.” That... That was both kind of humiliating (even if it was just a playful jab), and inordinately reassuring at the same time.

Tony grumbled something inarticulate but vaguely hostile as he slid his sunglasses on, and turned up the charm. Harley was on to something, a stealth mode would be so useful on such occasions.

He was turning his mind on the way to achieve transparency as he faced down the flashlights (that were the real reason to put on the fucking sunglasses even in the evening). It helped him plaster on a warm smile.


	11. Media... What more is there to say?

Steve understood Tony's somewhat mean wish to see the journalists kill each-others as soon as he opened the car door and got a good dozen of mics shoved right in his face. The barrage of questions gave him a jolt, and he was stunned by the cacophony of nosiness.

Some part of him was pretty grateful he couldn't make out the exact questions in all the noise, because the stray words he managed to catch were enough to have him halfway between deadly embarrassment and boiling anger.

Tony didn't seem overly affected, though, and was it not for the previous statement, Steve would have thought he appreciated the attention. He drug Steve along, acting as flashy as in any video of him, joking, flirting, and walking with such intent that the crowd parted before him.

The staff started buzzing around them, but Tony waved them off with an off-hand comment on wasting makeup on something already perfect (Steve was a unsure why they needed said makeup in the first place, so he was grateful for that).

When they finally settled around a table with a pleasant-looking young man (just a bit too upbeat and cheerful to be true, but whatever), that the live public was seated too and they got the signal the show was on road, Tony started talking, assuring everyone that no, he wasn't cheating on his girlfriend with Steve, as they'd been broken up for a week, and no, he wasn't planning to get married yesterday when he invited Steve in Vegas.

He spun the story artfully for someone who couldn't even remember the events. Steve was actually pretty grateful for that, he had gotten past the stage fright in the USO tour, but there was no prompt, here, and his own humor was usually a lot less successful than Tony's. Tony still integrated him in the talk from time to time, in a smooth way that made what they said look more believable.

Steve blushed strongly when Tony declared the sex was nothing to sneeze at (he did feel flattered, mind you, sex was just, private, you know. Obviously, Tony did _not_ know. Something he'd have to work on... Or not. Sex had been a one time thing, after all). It made the host look in equal parts kind of stunned, interested and sorry for Steve. Thankfully, he did not push the subject.

Well, not this form of the subject.

The “so you are homosexual?” thing did come up, though. Tony outright laughed at that, and asked if he'd have slept with that many women if he was, no, seriously, the word you're looking for there is bisexual (whatever that meant), and seriously, he barely qualified for that tag either because not even one percent of his conquests had been male, and mostly at time his judgment was quite compromised.

“You are not interested in men, then, but what about this remark on sex?”

Tony laughed again, and said that he found women more attractive, but, seriously, making an exception for Steve was, like, normal, who wouldn't hit on that. Plus he was a good lay, made breakfast and made for a very good comforter, so he could have been ugly as an ass and Tony would still totally sleep with him again.

Steve didn't know how to feel about that declaration, he blushed and found Tony widely inappropriate, sure, but he was also kind of happy to hear that Tony wasn't there just for the pretty muscles...

“... you Captain Rogers, or is it Captain Stark, now?” Steve blinked wildly, and stuttered an apology for not catching the question. “I asked about your feelings on homosexuality, Captain.” Well, at least he didn't seem to phased by Steve's spacing out and wasn't actually asking if he wanted to change his family name for Tony's (thought that now strangely made him feel warm on the stomach area)

“Well...” Get your feet back under you, Rogers, time to shine! “I have to admit I never spared a thought on that before. I was raised to think one should fall in love with a pretty girl, make two kids, buy a house, and live his way through the happily ever-after, that is in fact a bit less simple when you actually have to live it yourself... I never stopped to think I could do otherwise. I mean, homosexuality was actually considered as a crime, and it was also kind of taboo, I never thought to stop and consider whether I liked fellas. So yesterday when Tony dragged me there, I didn't even consider I might end up sleeping with him, or any other man, for that matter. Now, I think I would consider doing it again, granted I like the person, it is always the most important part, isn't it?”

The host stopped for a bit, then felt the need to formulate Steve's speech otherwise. “So you are bi?”

Steve found the second question a bit irritating, he had been more than clear enough, already. “I really don't know what this means”

Tony bent over to give Steve the rundown on what he called LGBT, then went forth by saying he himself didn't fit into any of this categories as he was mostly heterosexual, just a bit open on the outside of his circle. Steve decided it was time to fool around a bit and frowned, asking how you were supposed to find that out, and Tony smirked, not at all fooled by the act, but playing along.

Tony straightened “well, see, there is a simple test for that!” He pointed the host, that looked completely lost. “Turn around, please. Now, see, if your gaze tend to slip down to his butt and there is a part of you that says 'I would hit on that', then you can safely assume you are at least bi. Since I have it in good authority you liked at least one woman before, that is as far as it goes.”

Steve smiled, it was really way too fun. “Hmmm” He kept staring at the host's backside, for a couple of seconds, and at his crotch once he'd turned around (quite beautifully pink in the face, his peripheral vision supplied). Then, he jolted up, fixing his gaze back at his face, and feigning surprise. “Oh, sorry. I guess my answer is yes, then.”

The host turned even redder. Besides him, Tony was smiling a bit too much, and exhaling through his nose rhythmically, silently laughing, then. That felt rewarding. There were also a few snickers in the audience, so he knew he had done something well.

When he got some of his composure back, their host finally asked the one question they saw coming for miles. “So, this marriage is-”

Steve's cellphone rang.

He pulled it out, saw the SAM on the screen, and held up his hand on a 'hold that thought' pose and picked up the call.

There were gunshots in the background, he nodded at Tony, shoved his chair out, and exited the set, Tony following him, typing at his own phone, and blurting a “Avenger Emergency” to the public, then telling Steve his suit was two minutes out, so they should make it to the street in the meantime.


	12. Not ominous at all

Tony woke up sensibly less warm and comfortable than the previous day.

There were some similarities, though.

1-He had, once again slept all through... At least a night, the details were fuzzy, but yeah.

2-He felt notably less pained than he should have been, what with the huge explosion that starred as his last memory. He felt like his whole body was made of cotton, granted, but he wasn't suffering. Which was nice, even if he'd have liked his brain to feel less sluggish. Even drugged half to death, he could safely conclude that he was one the good stuff. Hospital, then.

That made the third factor pretty strange, though, because really...

3-There was, once again, skin contact, along his neck, just above the edge of the blanket. And hair brushing the underside of his jaw. Oh, and his hand, too.

Someone had stayed by his side until falling asleep on him. It was heartwarming, and it had never happened to him before. Even after his heart surgery, Pepper had been by his bedside, sure, but she was typing on her tablet, working while she waited for him to surface again, not holding his hand.

He knew overwork was Pepper's copping mechanism, and he didn't begrudge her, of course. Just, this was his nicest hospital wake up ever.

The skin was pretty warm, now that he thought of it. Warm like...

No? Again?

Tony blearily opened his eyes. Blond hair. Alright. Steve was strange!

Giggling lightly, (drug's fault, nothing to see, move along!) he moved his head a bit, yawned, and fell asleep again.

* * *

When he woke up again, Steve was still holding his hand, but not napping on him anymore. (Such a sham- Fuck you, brain! No more morphine for you!)

Tony hummed lightly under his breath and searched for his husband's face. (No, seriously, if anyone wanted to laugh, they could try being on horse grade painkillers, he'd laugh and upload the video on youtube.)

(And still, not in his right mind, no thought of him could actually be deemed proof of anything!)

He was swimming a bit, so he only registered they weren't alone and made sense of the sounds he'd heard before when he heard a feminine pitched half-squeal and saw his dearest Pepper's face pop up in front of him. (Told ya that those were the fucking strong drugs! What? ' _I doth protest too much_ '? Fuck you very much too, Rhodey's voice in my head!)

(And how fucking unfair was it, that he still had an inner Rhodey to bug him to death without even the good sides to it, like... Like... Huh.)

( _Fuck you Tony, I have all the good sides, especially the_ 'help you out of your messes at a moment's notice' _!_ )

(Okay, no this had to stop, he was not crazy yet.)

( _Probably, jury's still out..._ )

(No, seriously, shut the fuck up, subconscious! I have other things to-)

“-y, Tony? You there?” (And just look at that Rhodey-me, you made Pepper all worried!)

“Yeah, what's'it, m'dear guardian angel?”

Pepper frowned, gnawed at her lip, then flicked him in the nose. “Sweet talking me will give you nothing, Mr Stark.” She said over his (very dignified) yelp. “I know I don't have a foot to stand on to yell at you, but would it _kill_ you to avoid putting yourself at the most dangerous spot?”

Tony frowned. He had an excuse. A good one... Ah, yeah. “Steve's friend, Sun? Huh, whatever. He was in the blast radius, he'd have died if I hadn't shoved him! But I had, like 88% of chance to get out of it with just a few nasty bruises. That's what the armor is made for, Pep, protect me and others.”

Steve started to talk, but he was sharply interrupted by Pepper. “You have a concussion, you broke your right tibia, and there are five lacerations just shy of inch-deep in your right bicep. AND! I deeply recent you drawing any kind of a resemblance between a bomb that almost killed you and me! Luckily, I met Sam sooner today, and I like him, so you can consider yourself 12% forgiven.”

She took her bag, pulled a thick folder from it, shoved it in Steve's hands, saying it may not be the most entertaining of bedside readings, but it could be useful, maybe even entertaining.

Just as she reached the door, she turned around, locked eyes with Tony, smiled in one of her best 'scary-merciless-businesswoman' ways and added, as a goodbye, “I found the perfect PA for you, they're already sorting this whole mess. That will be all, Mister Stark!”

She shut the door with silent care, which was more scary than if she'd downright slammed it, and he heard the rhythmic click of her heels fade as she walked out. (Well. Not ominous at all.)

Steve turned sharply to look at him and gave a commiserating wince. Which, okay, completely ominous. If he was thinking out loud, he had all the reasons to freak out ( _which you are doing pretty well, all things considered._ )

(Shut the fuck up, brain, seriously, I will brain you if you don't. Ha! Brain, brain! Love the pun.)

“I see why you'd be concerned of me hearing... Don't worry, it's just the drugs, I don't believe you actually have a mental disorder.”

Tony stared at Steve, not knowing if he should be insulted at the dementia part, or relieved he only started after the 'doth protests too much' thing...

He decided to just roll over and sleep, (which proved a bit difficult with the IV's, the cast, brain damage and medication, but he managed) hoping the pillow would stuff any further slip.

Hey, Pepper was bitching at him again, his day was not all _that_ awful.

 

* * *

* * *

 

Well, there is not enough space in the end note to cram everything I want to say and everyone I want to thank, so I am starting ahead, if you don't mind...

I want to thank all the people who where there to give me a nudge by letting me know they appreciated my story one way or another. I really did go that far by guilt-tripping myself with the names and numbers that meant someone, somewhere may be waiting for the next chapter the way I do when I subscribe to a work.

By order from older to newest, because, seriously, it demands much more courage to involve oneself into a fic that has, like, one update every month, and that's still not granted (sorry, by the way)

 

* * *

 

Did leave a little comment to reassure me with the quality/interest of this project:

  * marie72__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ _my very first commenter (that really counts for insecure authors).
  * Misscar__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __who dug out infos on the marriage and divorce laws in USA for me, thanks again.
  * AtemusLotus__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __I love your avatar, by the way (and yeah, didn't really stay in Vegas, all things considered).
  * Azure_Nimbus **_and_** Zitronenbomber __ __ __ __that you can thank/blame for the fact this fic got an E-rating.
  * Angie__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ _who left me a comment despite not having an Ao3 account.
  * no_pretending__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ who pushed for more sexytime, and not just 'so, they go in the bedroom, see you after they're done and showered'.
  * Taigatora (tigress123)__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ who is NOT a lurker, OK. XD
  * Buns1974__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __who is the reason this last chapter came two days after chapter 11 and not two months.



Special mention to my real life friend, that I'll call C (she'll recognize herself ) who did read at least a part of this even though she's not fluent in English. (Si tu lis çà, je suis super fière de toi pour avoir tout fini, appelle moi qu'on puisse fangirler ensemble un moment)

 

* * *

 

Steve leafed through the packet miss Potts gave him. The folder was neatly organized in three different stacks. He had put the first one aside without reading it. There is to say that the 'What you will need to know about Tony if you plan to stay married with him' on the front page had him frozen for a full minute before he decided that he would not read it while Tony was passed out.

The second part was all the legal paperwork that their marriage had generated. The sheer volume was a bit intimidating, but he had time, and he didn't think he really needed to know it all by heart, so he skimmed along it, stopping to really read the points that seemed important.

The third was almost a press review. Everything that had managed to get printed, typed or broadcasted on their 'couple' since the marriage, three days plus a night earlier. Unsurprisingly, the thickest was from the two days Tony and him had been stuck in the hospital. The same picture popping up every other page.

The one where Steve was lifting Tony's armored but faceplate-less form from the wreckage he had caused smashing into a wall with the explosion's wind. As an artist, Steve could not argue much, this picture was somewhat breathtaking.

Steve, in his ripped jean and Tee-shirt that still looked like his own uniform,face caked with dust, carrying exactly what was both Tony Stark (his husband) and IronMan (his teammate), in an approximate bridal carry, his shield coming up in front of Tony's midsection. The colors were vivid. Blue, white, red, gold, on a backdrop of grays and blacks.

Blood liberally distributed on the both of them, some spilling down the armored arm of the suit. Tony's face was pale and pinched with pain, making him seem fragile despite all the metal. Steve was looking worried, sad, angry, determined, bordering on panicked. The both of them looked like humans, damageable, but still fighting, facing enemies. Knowing they could die.

And yes, Steve looked like he genuinely liked Tony. Of course, so all the article grousing on their unexpected true love, born from battle and a day together were not totally off mark. The fact that all of a sudden everybody was supporting their romance was a bit baffling, but not totally uncalled for. Not with this one picture. What he felt about it was a whole other story, though. Sadness that their nonexistent relationship was so well taken but he still wouldn't get to keep Tony as winning.

He chased the feeling by reading the article. Their fluffy guesses stung a bit, but the inaccuracies were funny as hell. He knew, at least, that he couldn't rely on the press to update him on what happened before they reached DC. He would have to ask Sam, when his ears were back to normal. Bucky had been there too, but he still wasn't comfortable around Steve. It was not like it was all that urgent.

The fact that he had still sat by Sam's side all along was pretty impressive in and off itself, so Steve hadn't pushed. He had vacated the place, leaving them alone. He had Tony to look after, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Then, there are the people that bookmarked this, and this really was something huge to me. Especially still in the WIP stage.
> 
>   * Ectoentity;
>   * DoctorStark;
>   * kuroitakaitenshi;
>   * RavenclawAthenaGirl;
>   * MrsMe;
>   * nomnomdude;
>   * MariposadelaLuna;
>   * TheOneFromTheForest;
>   * Sakurabankai;
>   * ghjdjk;
>   * Gothula (you're welcome ^^);
>   * Dragon3star;
>   * aviean;
>   * Lacyel (seriously, do you have any idea how flattering it is to be one out of seven in your bookmark list, along with some of my own favs? I even bragged to Mizzy for that when I read  _the reason you ruminate the shadowy past_. Loved it, by the way, thanks for the introduction :3);
>   * mischief7 (bit similar to Lacyel, except I didn't read your four other bookmark like a stalker yet -but I was already reading and following _Counterpart_ , and I read _Cheeseburgers, Tech and Steve_ yesterday for a different reason -liked them both- )
> 

> 
>  
> 
> * * *
> 
> Tony limped along his living room, Steve steadying him on his single leg.
> 
> The backlit silhouette in front of his window, back to him, felt earilly similar to another scene that had happened in Malibu, except it was a woman. And when she turned around. Tony recognized her as the goon that had answered to his question on Fury in the Helicarrier.
> 
> “Hello. I am Maria Hill, your new PA. Miss Potts told me that I could be expected to use my expertise in help to the Avengers at large. I happen to have something to tell you about that.”
> 
> “No fuck.” Steve elbowed him in the ribs, thankfully they were intact. (Or maybe it was the other way around?)
> 
> “You ever heard about the SuperHuman Registration Act?”  
>  
> 
> * * *
> 
> Also, as the Kudoing runs backward and the first names tend to disapear under a (and *** others), here are those Kudos I got in WIP stage. I used to stalk the number and get exited each time a new name appeared.
> 
>   1. WeeetUncle
>   2. Hikerkira
>   3. theta_sigma
>   4. rockmyskittles
>   5. desiqtie
>   6. Zitronenbomber
>   7. StephanieHolmes
>   8. DoctorStark
>   9. kuroitakaitenshi
>   10. ravendiana
>   11. no_pretending
>   12. MariposadelaLuna
>   13. Aducco
>   14. Kookookarli
>   15. Sakurabankai
>   16. Arel
>   17. LadyoftheBookworms
>   18. soyputayque
>   19. beachypeachy
>   20. AgentRed5
>   21. iliaccrestv
>   22. Esa_The_Great
>   23. nickita
>   24. YolandaAsh
>   25. texankate
>   26. Nanao_chan
>   27. gothula
>   28. MidnightsSong
>   29. Asarita
>   30. Xas
>   31. randommegs
>   32. LagLemon
>   33. Pouchinette
> 

> 
> And 45 guests that will stay anonymous to me (I know, compared to some works, it is nothing, but to me it feels huge!
> 
> * * *
> 
> Also, I'd want to thank those whose name or pseudo I do not know, the one I know of from the hit count, the guests, the seventy-something persons who subscribed, and those that used private bookmark and I just know of because there is a gap between the number of bookmarks between my Statistics and on the public count. 
> 
> You all, and your support, even the not very noticeable ones are part of the reason this story is now out there and not half forgotten in the backburner. You can take, like, twelve percent of the credit for this (an argument can be made for fifteen)
> 
> Oh, and I will also like comments and all even when it is finished. Even if I won't have much space to expend the list. I'll answer, as much as I can.


End file.
